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Reflections on My Life

Sidney Symons

Reflections on My Life

Reflections

on My Life

Sidney Symons

LifeBook Ltd

The experience of sharing your stories in a private autobiography for the family

Copyright © 2022 Sidney Symons.

First produced in Great Britain in 2022 by LifeBook Ltd for the Author’s private circulation.

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sole responsibility of the Author and is based on the Author’s perceptions of his experiences over time.

All opinions and statements of fact are those expressed by the Author as his personal recollections, and dialogue

and thoughts are consistent with those recollections.

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CONTENTS

1. Family History 7

2. Early Years 17

3. Teenage Years 23

4. Trading Days 27

5. Retail Revolution 37

6. Carol, Children and Castles 45

7. Shop Openings 59

8. Holidays 65

9. Richard, David, Louise and Laura 83

10. Parks Candles 99

11. Kiddush Club 109

12. The Golden Round 113

v

CHAPTER ONE

Family History

I

have had many requests from family and friends to write down my

experiences from my life so far. I have sat myself down now to do just

that. It’s fair to say I have enjoyed an interesting life, although I know

my wife, Carol, would consider that to be an understatement. I hope

she and others find my life story an entertaining read.

So, how far back do I go? If I wonder to myself whether the history

of my early years is of much interest to my children in this modern age,

I remind myself of my grandson’s given name, Jake Okenoff Symons –

a tribute to my grandfather’s Russian roots.

My mother, Rose Harris, and my father, Louis Symons, were both

born in London, but their parents came from further afield. Rose

Harris’s family came from Holland in 1750; Louis Symons’s from

Russia in 1890.

My father’s parents, Simon and Kate Okenoff, were from Vitebsk

– ‘White Russia’, as it was known. Today, Vitebsk is in Belarus. My

grandparents met and married in Russia and came to England around

1890 because of the political turbulence. They only spoke Yiddish

when they arrived, although my grandfather learnt a little English over

the years. Simon was a tailor and Kate had a brother, Alec, who was

a master tailor. Alec was always immaculately dressed. He had three

daughters, one of whom had a son, Richard Young, who is a wellknown

photographer. My zeida (grandfather) also always looked very

7

smart; he was immaculately dressed and a thorough gentleman. He

would, without exception, pull my booba’s (grandmother’s) chair back

whenever she was about to sit down or get up, and he would stroke her

hair. I distinctly remember her pushing him away when he did this, but

she obviously loved it. She was a very beautiful woman.

My father was born in 1901, one of six children: Jack, Benny,

Barney, Sylvia and Millie were his siblings. My father’s first job

was at the Houndsditch Warehouse. Later, he became a renowned

bookmaker at the races and retired after 42 years. My father would

have his shoes made at Lobb’s; his hats at Lock & Co, St James’s

Street; his shirts at Turnbull & Asser on Jermyn Street; and his suits

in Savile Row at Kilgour, French & Stanbury. I saw a bill for one

suit for £13 and 13 shillings – today the same suit would be £3,500

to £4,000. When my father wanted new suits, he would give the old

ones to my zeida, who actually looked as good if not better in them

than my father!

During the war, I remember my father bought black market pens.

Booba said to him, “Never do it again. This is a wonderful country and

you must do nothing to harm it.” She did not approve and he never

did it again. After the war, he purchased a Packard Super Eight, a very

impressive American motor, and hired a chauffeur. One racing season

he won £100,000, equivalent to £10 million today. Regrettably, he also

lost similar amounts in other seasons. His seniority as a bookmaker

meant he had the best pitches at Ascot and Cheltenham. I remember

him taking me to the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the horses flying

over the big jumps. There was a massive influx of Irish priests at the

meet, all dressed in their Savile Row suits with dog collars. The image

of those priests remains in my head.

Then there was the Goodwood fortnight, during which there was

racing at Goodwood, Brighton and Lewes in the south of England. My

father would stay at The Grand Hotel in Brighton and would swim

every morning between the two piers – one of the piers is no longer

there. Each year, the bookies had a traditional swimming contest

between the piers. My father was a strong swimmer and always did

8

well. One of my father’s sisters, Millie, was the Middlesex champion at

swimming. I can swim, but not to their standard.

My mother died of breast cancer in 1939 when I was three years old.

Today, she would have lived longer because of advanced technology,

but not back then. My father never remarried. I remember visiting

my mother in hospital once, but mostly I remember her cooking in

the kitchen in our home in Sandhurst Court, on Sydney Street in the

East End. She was buried at Rainham Jewish Cemetery, a Federation

cemetery. Later, my father was buried at the same cemetery. Growing up,

talking about my mother was a delicate subject. She was not discussed.

I regret that now, but it was the war years, with everyone having their

own difficulties, plus her family became geographically quite dispersed.

My aunts looked after me and my sister, Helen. These were Aunt

Sylvia who was married to Sam, and Aunt Sophie, the wife of his

brother, Jack. We regularly visited the other aunts and uncles. There

was Aunt Millie who lived in Northampton. Her husband, Leslie,

was in cigarette manufacturing. He was from South Africa and was a

small man with quite an aggressive persona. Aunt Sylvia was a strongwilled

woman. She would stand up to him, not taking any of his

rudeness. There was an incident one Passover. We were all around for

dinner to celebrate and he began to speak unpleasantly. Aunt Sylvia

picked up a large plate of fish which she had cooked and turned to

us. “Children, we are going,” she said, and we walked out, fish plate

and all! Aunt Millie had two children and later they all went back to

South Africa.

Uncle Jack, Aunt Sophie’s husband, was a market trader. Uncle

Benny had an amusement arcade in Hastings. My father was wellknown

amongst the other Jewish bookmakers: Cyril Stein, Lou Medoza,

Jack Cohen, Percy Cohen, Ike Morris, Willy Preston, Bally Dyas, Gus

Demmy from Manchester and many, many more. In the morning, some

of them would meet at the Cumberland Hotel for coffee. I remember

there was a barber at the hotel where they would have a shave.

During the war, my grandparents moved to Northampton with Aunt

Sylvia where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Simon and Kate

9

kept their Russian name, Okenoff. They were buried along with Aunt

Sylvia in a non-Jewish cemetery, but in a small section bought by the

local Jewish community during the war. There are only some 60 Jewish

graves there. One of these belongs to Aunt Sophie’s baby boy, Brian.

He was nine months old when he swallowed a safety pin from his

napkin and died.

My father was the eldest child and when Aunt Sylvia became ill with

cancer, he took on the main responsibility to help. I can see my father

now, knocking on the doors of doctors, trying to find a specialist to

look after her, while I waited in his car in Harley Street. Eventually, it

became clear that it was an impossible situation. I remember he actually

said to me, “We’ve done our best.” My father was an admirable head

of the family.

As my mother died when I was young, her history is not as vivid

to me. I know her family were fishmongers who originally came from

Holland in 1768. It was Cromwell who brought the Jews over for the

weaving business, many of whom went to Manchester. My maternal

ancestors, however, settled in the East End of London and it was in

Whitechapel and Spitalfields where my grandparents, Henry and

Elizabeth Harris, lived. They had 10 children, maybe 11 as I believe

one may have died young.

My mother, Rose, was born in 1903, one of three daughters. She

had a brother, Uncle Solomon or ‘Solly’, who lived in Brighton. My

father told me I was named Sidney after my mother’s brother. Solly had

a son, Henry, who had two sons of his own. Henry’s sons both became

celebrated chefs and well-known London restauranteurs with their

establishments. Bibendum was one of the restaurants run by Matthew

and there was Racine run by Henry. Henry currently writes for The

Times newspaper. I believe they started in West Street in Brighton,

inspired by their mother who was a good cook.

My uncles were a mix of market traders, fabric and dress

manufacturers, amusement arcade owners and bookmakers. They were

duckers and divers, living by their wits. There was Uncle Mickey, a

bookmaker with betting shops in Reading; Uncle Jo and Uncle Harry,

10

who both moved to Peterborough during the war; Uncle Morry, a

tailor; and then Uncle Lou, a dealer in second-hand clothes.

Uncle Jo had two sons, Henry and Jeffrey. I would stay with them

in Peterborough during the school holidays. When cousin Henry from

Reading and I were older, I’d say in our early 20s, we enjoyed a trip

to Dublin together. Henry was taking out an Irish girl at the time.

We stayed at a smart hotel in the city and the dining room was full

of priests, all eating lobster and drinking champagne. Obviously, they

were all from wealthy Irish families where the first son took over the

family estate, the second son joined the army and son number three

went into the priesthood. It was a different world to our upbringing

back in London.

After the war had ended, Uncle Harry and Aunt Frances lived in

Blomfield Court opposite our home in Clifton Court and they had a

son, Michael Harris. Michael was a good boxer and rugby player and

would keep an eye out for me. He had two sisters, Helen and Hilary.

I was away at boarding school from the age of 9 to 13, so I did not

grow up around my mother’s family much. When war started, they

moved away, some to Reading, some to Peterborough. My sister, Helen,

who was eight years my senior, had more contact with my mother’s

family. She was friendly with Ro Ro and Bessie, Aunt Jessie’s daughters.

They moved to Blackpool during the war and we would visit them for

holidays. There was Aunt Tata, as we called her, who lived after the war

in Cunningham Court, opposite from us.

The family were split up during the war years. My booba’s brother,

Alec, had three daughters; one was called Lilly and she married

Uncle Lou. One of his daughters had a son, Richard Young, who is

one of the most well-known paparazzi today and has photographed

most of the famous film stars. The stars all trust him and he is

one of the only paparazzi allowed inside the restaurants and clubs

because he never uses their photographs without their permission.

The other paparazzi are made to wait outside. I am friends with

Richard to this day.

11

Parents’ wedding

Mother

12

With my sister, Helen, and Mother

Father at the races

13

My father on Bournemouth Beach

Me at four years old

14

With my cousin, Henry

With my sister, Helen. I am aged 22

15

CHAPTER TWO

Early Years

I

was born at Mother Levy’s, the Jewish Maternity Hospital in the

East End of London, on 27th March 1936. By 1939, my mother had

died and the Second World War had started. My sister and I moved in

with my father’s parents, Simon and Kate, our zeida and booba. They

lived behind the London Hospital on Commercial Road. There was

an Anderson shelter in their garden which was sometimes used as a

bomb shelter, but it was being in the tube station during an air raid

that I remember distinctly. It was very crowded down there, with many,

many people trying to sleep with blankets on the floor. A man was

playing an accordion and singing, I think to keep our spirits up rather

than busking for money as they do today.

London was not the best place to live during the war. My father was

made an air raid warden. His brothers, Jack, Benny and Barney, were

in the army in the artillery corps but did not partake in combat. On

my mother’s side, I do not really know what they did during the war to

earn a living. My father and his family decided we should all evacuate

to safety and Northampton was chosen as we already had family living

there. Firstly, we stayed with Aunt Sylvia, who rented a flat in the town

centre, before my father arranged for Helen and I to go to a boarding

school called York House. The fees were £13 a term. I remember the

school had problems getting payment from the other parents, even at

the price of £1 a week!

17

I was only four years of age when I went to York House School, Stony

Stratford. I settled into boarding school life reasonably well. It was a coeducational

school, so my sister Helen was there too. I remember there

was a shortage of food; if we were given a hard-boiled egg, it was only

one half of it. My father brought a box of chocolates for us on one of

his visits and all the chocolate pieces inside were also cut into halves.

I also remember that apples at school used to taste bitter because they

were cooking apples.

It was ‘double summertime’ – this was created for the farmers during

the war, meaning it was not dark until 10pm. I would be sent to bed at

6pm and, as I was only four, I would quickly fall asleep. For the older

children, there was a silence bell at 9pm. I remember once when this

silence bell woke me. The sun was still shining, so I climbed out of bed,

dressed myself and went down for breakfast. The teachers all laughed

and put me back to bed. I did not do that again.

We went on a school outing to the cinema. Octopuses on the

screen is all I remember of that film. We were only allowed one bath a

week, otherwise it was a quick basin wash. There was a music teacher,

Miss Murphy, who always wore a lavender dress and her strong smell

of mothballs still lingers in my memory. Another boy my age, Brian

Lewis, used to wet his bed. Our paths crossed again later in life as

Brian had a company which imported watches. When I joked with him

about his bedwetting, he laughed. We both understood that being so

young at boarding school was not easy.

One school holiday, my sister and I went to visit my mother’s sister,

Aunt Jessie, in Blackpool. Aunt Jessie, who was married to Uncle

George, was one of my Grandma Harris’ daughters. Her two daughters,

Ro Ro and Bessie, also visited us at the school. They took Helen and me

out for a picnic and we settled down in a field with high hay. Clearly,

we should not have been there as the farmer came and asked us, in no

uncertain terms, to leave. All these small details I remember.

After three years at York House, Helen and I left to stay with Aunt

Sophie and Uncle Jack, my father’s brother, who lived in a district of

Northampton called Spinney Hill. They did not have any children,

18

and my father’s work kept him in London as the races continued

during the war. I went to a local Catholic school called Notre Dame.

The nuns were very kind to us. I distinctly remember my father

speaking to the abbess so that my sister and I did not have to go to

prayers. I would travel to school on the public bus on my own, which

nowadays may seem a bit odd for a youngster aged eight, but those

were different times.

Aunt Sylvia had now moved from her flat into a house. My sister

and I would sleep there. Aunt Sylvia was a market trader with a stall

in Northampton twice a week. Interestingly, considering my future,

she sold jewellery. Booba and Zeida lived with Aunt Sylvia. Booba was

a very good cook and our Sunday lunch would often be her delicious

cholent. Zeida, who was a tailor, was not working then – he had retired.

I remember him coming down to light the coal fire in the living room.

When out, he would wear his homburg hat, raising it whenever he

passed by a lady. At Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, there was an

appeal at the synagogue where each person shouted out their donation.

My zeida donated five guineas, which was a lot of money in those days,

75 years ago.

As a family, we would visit the cinema in Northampton. At the

end of the movie, we would all stand and the national anthem would

play. I suspect then there was an organist playing live. I remember also

watching the Pathé News at the cinema, one of the ways to receive news

in those days.

When the war was over, we moved back to London. My father

rented a flat in Clifton Court, a Tudor-fronted building on the corner

of St John’s Wood Road and Maida Vale. Being a bookmaker can be a

precarious profession, but my father was successful enough to enjoy his

Savile Row suits and handmade shoes from Lobb’s. Needless to say, he

had his ups and downs.

Uncle Harry, my mother’s brother, and Aunt Frances lived opposite

in Blomfield Court with their three children, Hilary, Helen and

Michael. Cousin Michael was five years older than me, Cousin Helen

was eight years older and little Hilary was five years younger, all not

19

quite in my age range. My sister Helen was friends with Cousin Helen,

though. In Cunningham Court, also opposite from us, lived one of my

mother’s sisters, Aunt Tata. She was married to Uncle Kivvy and their

son, Harold, who was nearly my age.

On leaving the RAF, Uncle Kivvy had set up a dress shop in the

Elephant and Castle. My sister started working in the dress shop and

my father enrolled me into the Hasmonean Grammar School, a Jewish

school in Golders Green, as a boarding pupil. I was nine years old. The

school later bought a premises called ‘The Logs’ on Hampstead Heath.

I was a boarder from the age of 9 to 13. I was not particularly good

at bookwork or studies; sports became my strength. I enjoyed cricket

and was an all-rounder. I opened the bowling and was usually number

three batsman. Eventually, I played cricket for Middlesex Juniors and

finished up as the captain of Middlesex Boys.

At the age of 14, I was Middlesex champion for my age group

at running 440 yards. When I was 15 years old, the All England

Championships was at Port Sunlight, outside Liverpool. Our coach was

German; he was Jewish and had left Germany because of the problems

in 1936. His nickname was Paul ‘Yogi’ Meyer and he had been the

number one high jumper in Germany. I remember him distinctly. His

speciality was the eastern cut off, which we had never seen before. He

did a backward flip as opposed to in those days when you just did a

scissor jump. My schoolfriend, Ian Caplan, was an accomplished high

jumper and also Middlesex champion, but neither of us was allowed to

compete as the All England games were on the Shabbat. We knew to

accept this, being at a Jewish school. Ian and I remained good friends

until his passing years later.

I do not remember ever being on holiday with my father or my sister

during this time. Instead, each summer, I would go to summer school

in Seaford on the coast in East Sussex for a month. Cricket matches

were arranged with local teams and I played fairly well. Later on, we

played a match against Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school. I was

13 years of age, but was playing for the senior school. I was number

seven to bat. Well, our batting collapsed and it was not looking good.

20

I hit 87 not out and we won the match. Dr Schonfield, our principal at

school, was so impressed that he drove me back to London and bought

me strawberries and cream. I do not know why he chose strawberries

and cream, but I suppose it was kosher. Incidentally, he brought

children to the UK from Europe on the Kindertransport and after the

war continued to bring children from Poland and Germany to resettle

them here. Dr Schonfield was not only principal of our school, but was

an outstanding Jewish leader.

21

At Seaford Holiday Camp, aged 16

A cricketer

22

CHAPTER THREE

Teenage Years

At the age of 13, I stopped boarding, moved back to Clifton Court

and became a day boy at the Hasmonean Grammar School until

age 16. Helen was 20 by now and she looked after my father, myself and

the flat. She was what I would call a nice cook. Helen was artistic and

went to art school. Unlike me, she was very blonde with blue eyes. She

loved the sun and she would sit on the balcony of the flat overlooking

Edgware Road to sunbathe. Helen and I were very close.

The Hasmonean Grammar School was in Holders Hill, Hendon.

I would take the bus to Golders Green and then another to Holders

Hill. It would take about 50 minutes each way. On the way back from

school, many pupils used to stop at Golders Green Station and stand

by the telephones boxes there, chatting to the girls from Downhurst

School.

At 13, I had my bar mitzvah at the Bayswater Synagogue. The

synagogue is no longer there. My bar mitzvah was a small affair, with

just the family celebrating in our home at Clifton Court afterwards.

I had my second bar mitzvah aged 83, three score and ten years later, as

it says in the Bible, but more of that later.

At this time, I joined a Jewish youth club called Primrose. It was a

social club and we would meet during the evening in a big house on

Finchley Road. Sport was integral to the club and I played football and

cricket for them. I was chosen for the AJY, the Association of Jewish

23

Youth, the pick of sportspeople. I also played for the premier Jewish

football club, which was Wingate. A famous Tottenham Hotspur player

was coach, Mickey Dolin. I was only 15 and these were men of 20 and

25. I was in the third team.

The friends I made at school tended to be through sports and my

football team photo shows a few of them, but once I left school, my work

meant it was not easy to keep in touch. I went to one old boys’ event,

but the network did not seem to me to be very strong. Ian Caplan, as

I have said before, became a lifelong friend. Schooldays were a long

time ago and the lessons are a distant memory. I do remember one

teacher in particular, Mr Meyer, a German man who taught English

who was very strict. He pulled the hairs near our ears. There was a

Mr Franks who taught history. He unconsciously danced when he was

dictating to us, which would send us into hysterics, but mainly there

was an overemphasis on our religious studies.

I was not very interested in books and neither my father nor my

sister pushed me academically. Our ethos was to work and to make

a living. On the other hand, my wife, Carol, is extremely bright and

wanted to go to university, but her mother did not want her to go as

they wanted her at home, so instead, her first job was at Marks &

Spencer where she did extremely well in fashion. However, Carol found

the women rather catty. She left to join the Board of Guardians to help

Jewish people in distress. The day we became engaged, she left work!

24

Aged 15

House football team

25

Training at the Hasmonean School

26

CHAPTER FOUR

Trading Days

When I was 16 years old, I left school. By then, Helen had married

Michael Green. While I cannot remember the ceremony, her

reception was at the Grosvenor Rooms, Walm Lane, and the caterer

was Johnnie Michaels. Helen’s husband, Mick as we called him, was a

good man. He had been a sales representative for a toiletry company

before joining forces with my Uncle Barney, my father’s brother. Uncle

Barney worked with my father at the races, but he was also a market

trader. Mick and Barney sold watches and jewellery, auctioning at the

markets. I had been thinking about working at Marks & Spencer, but

Mick asked me along to the market. I liked the freedom and the busy

atmosphere of the markets. There was a real excitement in gathering

a crowd, working them to buy our products (pitch, or auction as we

called it) and earning money to boot. Being a novice, I was not allowed

to pitch, but later I learnt how to sell!

We started in the south of England. We earnt a living, only just.

There was a lot of travelling and Mick drove a shooting brake. We

heard Wales was proving to be a good earner, so off we went. Our

first market was at Pontypridd and immediately it was a success. Our

watches sold for an average of £5. We began taking serious money,

£600 to £1,000 a day, equivalent to £15,000 in today’s money.

Eventually, Mick encouraged me to pitch too. I found this easy and

had a patter that made the crowds laugh. Now, we could split up and

27

cover two markets at the same time. I actually didn’t take a salary for

10 weeks and then, before Christmas, Mick gave me £1,000. Not bad

at 17 years of age.

Of the many characters working the markets, several come to mind

as particularly memorable. There was Prince Monolulu, a 6ft 6in-tall

African dressed head-to-toe in leopard skin and feathers. He was a racing

tipster in Petticoat Lane, selling tips for a winning horse. I distinctly

remember him shouting out, “I got a horse!” His saying became famous

among the crowd, as did he. Also in Petticoat Lane was the Strong

family who sold chinaware. To pitch and attract a crowd, they would

throw a full tea set high up in the air and let it come crashing down.

Obviously, they would use damaged unsaleable pieces. The noise, loud

and shattering, caught the crowd’s attention instantly.

Percy Cohen was another. From South Africa, he was always

immaculately dressed. He was what was called a ‘Funkun’ worker. He

sold fragrances and his company name was Pishers & Sons of Paris.

‘Pisher’ is a Yiddish word, and the translation is obvious.

I remember one mock-auctioneer, referred to by us as a ‘runout

worker’ because it was illegal. His name was Red-Faced Sam, for an

obvious reason. He had the most innocent baby face, would promise

the world and give you nothing – much the same as the many quack

doctors in the markets, all selling remedies claiming to cure every

ailment. Eckel and Peckel were also mock-auctioneers who always

seemed to get into trouble. They were a Jewish sales duo from

Manchester who were bad salesmen. Mick’s brother-in-law, Stephen

Jacobs, was working with me. He was a very tall man who wore a

bowler hat. We were in Nottingham and the crowd was not happy

with Eckel and Peckel. Seeing the anger growing, Stephen went into

the crowd saying, “I’m Inspector Jones. I’m here to take down all your

names and addresses.” The crowd were happy and Eckel and Peckel

were saved from a certain lynching.

Then there was Father Brown in the Abergavenny market. He

would dress in a monk’s habit and when he would cry out, “Let us

pray,” I remember seeing people go to their knees.

28

Our style in the markets was suit and tie: we were gentlemen

auctioneers. I would often have someone in the crowd to encourage the

bidding. A ‘rick’ was the slang term we used for this assistance. Dick

The Rick was good at his job and was very well-known. I used him for

several years, particularly in London.

It was about this time when my father took me to his tailors, Kilgour,

French & Stanbury in Savile Row, for my first suit. I particularly

wanted a Prince of Wales check. When it came time for my fitting,

Louis Stanbury looked at me and frowned. “The checks don’t match,”

he said. Then, in front of my eyes, he took a pair of scissors and cut

straight through the suit! In the end, I settled for a navy blue one.

When our son, Richard, married Marcelle, I kept up the tradition and

took him to Savile Row, although he went to Edward Sexton, who had

started as an apprentice under the famous Tommy Nutter.

Mick and I were on a roll, working markets across Wales. As well as

Pontypridd, we went to Maesteg, Caerphilly, Abergavenny and in the

summer to a Butlin’s holiday camp in Pwllheli. For our base, we stayed

at the Royal Hotel in Cardiff, the best hotel in the city. It cost us £1.25

a day as we had struck a deal with them at £8.75 per week. We would

work from Tuesday to Friday night, then the room was locked for the

two days we were not there, keeping our clothes and chattels safe.

Wales was attracting many other traders up from London. They

would catch the train from Paddington and get off at Cardiff Central.

They all stayed in a boarding house called The Barracks, probably a

nickname and you can guess why. They gave 10 shillings a day to stay

there. This is going back some 67 years.

Often staying at the Royal Hotel was a boxing manager, Benny

Jacobs. He was the manager of British Boxing champion Joe Erskine,

a Welshman. My interest in boxing had started at an early age when

my father would take me to the Albert Hall. I remember when I was

12 years old, he took me to see a fight with Al Philips, a Jewish fighter.

Al was winning against Alf Danahar – it was an eight-round fight

and my father, in his bookmaker voice, shouted out, “I’ll lay 100 to

8.” The response was strong: “I’ll take 1,000 to 80,” said a punter.

29

This was a lot of money 70 years ago. Al was suddenly knocked to the

floor in the last round, but instead of taking the count to eight or nine,

Al immediately jumped up. His pride had got the better of him. The

referee stopped the fight as Al clearly was unable to defend himself. My

father lost £1,000 and was obviously very upset as Al virtually threw

the fight.

From those early days with my father, I have always had an interest

in boxing. There used to be a club in Finchley Road called El Torro

run by Barry Huntman. His uncle was the boxing manager, Sonny

Huntman. Sonny represented an Israeli boxer, one of the first to come

over to England. He was due to fight at the Albert Hall. Sonny asked

me to give the boxer a lift to the fight as I was in one of our shops in

Piccadilly Circus. The Israeli boxer was staying at the Regent Palace

Hotel, which was also in Piccadilly Circus. When I collected the boxer,

he had a terrible cold; he could not stop sneezing. I thought to myself,

this is not a good sign. At the hall, most of the spectators around the

ring were Jewish. The Israeli boxer was clearly the favourite, with the

Star of David on his shorts. I bet on the opposing fighter. They all

thought I was a traitor. The Israeli, despite his cold, was winning for a

while. I was having kittens, but eventually, he lost narrowly on points.

Boxing became a light relief from business for me, but occasionally

it turned nasty out of the ring. A promoter, Jarvis Astaire, had a fight

booked for a famous American boxer called Marvin Hagler. He was

set to fight the world champion, Terry Downes, a British boxer, at the

Albert Hall. This British boxer announced to the press, “No black man

is going to take my title.” At the fight, there were Union Jacks everywhere

and Downes wore boxing shorts made of Union Jacks. The National

Front had turned up in force. However, Hagler was an extremely strong

man and he destroyed the world champion. The National Front began

hurling bottles and we all took refuge underneath the ring. It was

frightening. Hagler held the world title for seven years after that fight.

In Wales, at Pontypridd Market, the person who erected my stall

was a young Tom Jones. I would pay him five shillings. He remembered

it many years later when our paths crossed again, but more of that later.

30

There was another fledgling singer in Cardiff. At the time, I was taking

out a girl called Shirley Turner. She had a friend who worked in Boots

the chemist on Queen Street. She asked if her friend could come with

us to the cinema, which I agreed to. Her friend’s name was Shirley

Bassey. Shortly afterwards, Shirley Bassey secured her first job in Al

Reed’s Black and White Minstrel Show. She lived in Tiger Bay where

there was a restaurant which I used to frequent. The three of us went

out for dinner again and by this time Shirley Bassey had become a local

star. She did have a fantastic voice.

We began to have our own watches manufactured. They were made

for us by a company named Louis Newmark, associated with the Avia

brand. We called our watches RobLloyd. This was a combination of

the names of Mick’s two sons, Robert and Lloyd.

At the time, my centre was Liverpool where, among other markets,

I worked Birkenhead. I would stay at The Lord Nelson Hotel, just

behind the Liverpool Empire. One of the top stars at the Empire was

Hylda Baker. She had a popular catchphrase, best heard in her broad

Yorkshire accent: “She knows, you know.” We started to chat in the

hotel as she sipped her way through more than a couple of gin and

tonics, all paid for by me. She was in her 60s or older, and after that

first evening, she would come looking for me, asking at reception,

“Is Mr Symons around?” I have to admit, I suggested she perhaps

introduced me to the girls from the chorus in her show. She did,

keeping a stream of possibilities heading my way while I sent large gin

and tonics her way.

Liverpool was very interesting. There was Bold Street and the

Kardomah restaurant. Later on, I had taken an apartment in Lord

Nelson Street. Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles, had a

flat at the same premises. Brian Epstein’s family had an electrical

shop, Nems, which also sold musical instruments. I saw The Beatles

perform at The Cavern. They were good but very rough, needing

artistic polish. I enjoyed their songs, but at the time Gerry and The

Pacemakers and Cilla Black were hotter tickets; all were managed

by Epstein.

31

Liverpool was also interesting because of the ladies of the city, or

rather the ladies were interesting to me. There were a few and I was

young. About six weeks after one brief encounter, I was at home in

London at Danescroft Avenue when a man in a striped suit and bowler

hat approached me. He asked if my name was Sidney Symons. “Yes,”

I replied. “Sir, I am here to inform you that you have been named in

the divorce case between…” The rest became a blur. I was terrified.

I went to see my solicitor, Alfred Kirstein, affectionately known as ‘the

Old Fox’. The Old Fox spent what seemed like an hour telling me about

the time he defended a man who tried to assassinate King George V in

Hyde Park using a handgun.

“In those days,” Alfred said, “to be found guilty at the Old Bailey,

you needed a total majority of 12 on the jury verdict. Just one vote

could save your life.” That one man on the jury wore a black knitted tie

and Alfred won his defence.

“So,” he turned to me finally to ask, “are you a virgin?”

I shook my head.

“Forget about this divorce case,” he said, as he pushed the papers

away. That was the end of the matter.

Before I was married, it is true to say I was more than interested in

girls. We lads became what you would call Stage Door Johnnies. Once,

my father took our family to the London Hippodrome to see Sophie

Tucker. She was 85 years old but still the all-time American musical

star. The chorus girls came on first and my father, sister, brother-in-law

and myself were sat in the front row. To my utter embarrassment, the

chorus girls all stopped and looked at me. “Well, hello, Sidney,” they

giggled. My father gave me the biggest mouthful of my life!

When I was 23, a boy came to work for me in Chorley. From

Manchester, Frankie Cohen was then 17 years old. He later joined

Harold Behrins and together they had a wallpaper business which

became so successful it went public. Frankie’s wife’s father was an

art collector and he encouraged his son-in-law to learn the business.

They bought paintings from a fellow Mancunian for as little as £10–

£15 a canvas. The artist was LS Lowry. Frankie has become one of

32

the leading collectors in modern art, with a gallery and warehouse in

Walsall, exhibiting around the world. I saw one of his exhibitions at

Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

I remained in Manchester for a little while, staying at The Midland

Hotel. A group of us would meet up at the Kardomah coffee shop in

Queen Street. There were a lot of characters there. Most of them were

not keen on the Londoners as they thought we were snobs, but luckily,

they considered me as one of them.

A certain Sammy Bookbinder springs to mind, an excitable fellow.

He had a successful supermarket, but an Indian man opened a little

grocery shop opposite. Sammy Bookbinder spoke to a man who went

by the name Russian Dave. A little paraffin would see things sorted

for the right price. However, Russian Dave used petrol instead, causing

a major explosion. Russian Dave wore cowboy boots with heels; they

were very distinctive. The explosion was so big it blew Russian Dave

right out of his boots! One of his boots was found at the scene of the

crime, providing clear evidence for the police investigation. Russian

Dave and Sammy Bookbinder were both sent down for 10 years. It was

the talk of Manchester.

The police officers from Liverpool Street Station were often

around in Petticoat Lane. They were all over 6ft tall. They would

stand behind the market stall and we would shake their hands and

exchange a few words. It was standard practice to give them five

shillings. It was not considered a bribe, just a small insurance in case

there was ever any trouble.

On Sunday mornings, when I was back in London, I would work

in Petticoat Lane. An average take there would be around £600, and

going back 65 years, that was a lot of money. Petticoat Lane always

reminds me of my Grandma Harris. She lived on Wentworth Street

and would sit at her window looking out at the buzz of activity. The

locals knew she would be sat in her armchair in a long black skirt

which reached down to the floor. Underneath her skirt, she always

had a bottle of gin and half a dozen bottles of Guinness. That was her

enjoyment, her pleasure.

33

My sister Helen and Mick had by now bought a house in

Danescroft Gardens in Hendon, just behind what used to be the

Brent Bridge Hotel.

34

At the market at 18 years old

At Pontypridd Market

35

CHAPTER FIVE

Retail Revolution

It was 1960 and I was 24 years of age. I was now an equal partner

with my brother-in-law Mick. We wanted to move into retail – to

have our own shops. We found a small kiosk in Piccadilly Circus and

set up business. We called it Eros Jewellers. The rent was £13,000 per

year. This included two flat advertising hoardings on either side. From

our market days, I had made friends with Peter Goldstein who in

turn had the ear of the owner of Avia watches. Avia was a well-known

Swiss brand. They agreed to rent our two boards for advertisements

for exactly £13,000 per year, and rather than quarterly payments,

I asked for the money up front and they paid it. Basically, we were up

for none – a good deal! Avia continued to rent the two hoardings for

the next five years.

We soon opened another two shops in Piccadilly: Piccadilly Jewellers

and Green & Symons. The latter we chose to use as our corporate

name. The Green & Symons shop we had taken over from Saqui and

Lawrence who were famous jewellers owned by H. Samuel. H. Samuel

was owned by the Edgar family, a typically English company, but

Jewish. I knew Anthony Edgar, the chairman. He told me they could

not make the Saqui and Lawrence shop pay. “If you can, good luck

to you!” We were newcomers to retail shops and that particular shop

was in a prominent position in Piccadilly, right on the Circus. The

landlords were the Land Securities Group, owned by Lord Samuel.

37

True to form, my soon-to-be wife, Carol, was friendly with Marion

Naggar, Lord Samuel’s daughter, and her husband, Guy Naggar. Guy

spoke on our behalf to assure the landlord that we would be perfectly

capable of paying the rent and he let us have the shop. That was the

beginning of a long association with Land Securities.

My father had brought me up to dress well and I followed in his

footsteps by wearing only Savile Row suits. I would have my shoes made

by McLaren’s in Jermyn Street at 22 guineas a pair and my shirts were

made by Frank Foster in Clifford Street. One of the best shoemakers

at the time was Cleverley; his shoes were 30 guineas. I asked Frank

Foster to see if he could get Cleverley to make me a pair and he said,

“Yes, but he’ll want you to pay up front.” Back then, when everything

was bespoke, you would often not have to pay until years later. “Fine,”

I said. Cleverley’s shop was in Dover Street. A very tall, well-spoken

Englishman measured me carefully. I had never had a brown pair of

shoes before, so that was what I wanted. I returned to my jewellery shop

in Piccadilly Circus and within half an hour I received a telephone

call. It was Mr Cleverley. “Mr Symons,” he said. “You ordered a pair of

brown shoes. They aren’t really suitable for a Jewish boy!” Savile Row

did not make brown suits and clearly Cleverley did not make brown

shoes. He made me a black pair and I still have them today.

Green & Symons eventually had four jewellery shops in Piccadilly

Circus. The business was jewellery and watches. We kept one of the

shops open 24 hours a day to cater to the casinos where people gambled.

In those days, you could open one minute after midnight because it

was the next day. Trading laws said we could not trade between 8pm

and midnight, but we did and nothing ever happened.

Our portfolio of shops grew. The most successful shop was one

we took over from Orient Jewellers next door to the Cumberland

Hotel, Marble Arch. Another was at 69 Oxford Street, the Tottenham

Court end. I bought the lease from a friend, Dennis Hirsh, who had

been running it as a clothing shop. The rent was £20,000 per year.

We rented the basement to a dentist for £15,000. Sometime later, the

landlords approached us to buy the shop back. They offered us £60,000.

38

The shop was at the wrong end of the street to be successful, so we

jumped at the offer.

There was an old gypsy woman who used to come into the 69 Oxford

Street shop. I know she also visited the health club at the Dorchester

Hotel on Ladies’ Day each Thursday to give palm readings. She had a

particular hankering for gold sovereigns and would often buy one, but

she could not help herself – she would steal more than she paid for.

Old habits. She would take them from the display tray into her bag

and each time I would put my hand into that bag and take them back.

One day, I unknowingly took out more sovereigns from her bag than

she had stolen and we showed a profit!

Speaking of profits, and not referring to my small gain from the

gypsy woman, Mick and I were doing OK and when we sold 69 Oxford

Street back to the landlord, I wanted to buy a Rolls-Royce. The dealer

showed me two. I said, “I’ll take the two,” and the dealer nearly

collapsed! One was for me and the other for Mick. They were £11,000

each, the price of a house. We kept them both for two years and then

sold them for £12,000 each. A Rolls-Royce in those days held its price.

We replaced them with two further Rolls-Royces.

On Oxford Street, we had shared a lease with a man called Jeffrey

Wallis who had womenswear shops. Number 360 was a large unit,

so we split it into two. That was another success. We eventually sold

it on to a tobacconist for £500,000. We were becoming quite the

property dealers.

The Cumberland Hotel wanted to take the shop we had bought

from Orient Jewellers to develop another entrance, so we moved to a

big unit seven doors down. That was a difficult shop and thankfully

we sold it on to Ralph Halpern to set up a Burton store. Believe it or

not, we received £500,000 for that premises. It felt as though we were

making more money from properties than from retail.

One of the strengths of our shops in Piccadilly Circus was that the

shops were buying in shops. One shop stayed open late. Surrounded by

casinos, one of which was named after the comedian Charlie Chester,

the Piccadilly shop became a favourite with those needing extra cash

39

for the tables. We had an intercommunication line between three shops

in the area. If a customer would come in with a Rolex watch to sell,

we might offer £250. They were, of course, welcome to try elsewhere.

If they left, down the intercom we would say, “A possible Rolex on its

way” and our next shop would offer £245. Usually, eager to get back to

the gaming tables, they would accept the lower price. At our all-night

shop, however, we would offer to lend them the money, and if they won

at the casino, they could buy back their watch at 10% interest.

We added a shop next door to Bond Street Underground Station.

This attracted an expanding clientele. One in particular was a lady

called Cynthia, the wife of the by then successful singer, Tom Jones.

The manager of our Bond Street shop was a handsome, good-looking

fellow. We nicknamed him Handsome John and Cynthia was a very

regular client. Tom Jones was not a happy man about this and there

was an altercation between him and the manager, which I was called

in to resolve. I banned him from the Bond Street store. There was no

ill will between us and for years afterwards, Tom Jones was a client,

buying his heavy gold bracelets, neck chains and iconic crosses, but

not at the Bond Street shop – he used our Piccadilly branch instead.

Cynthia never returned as a client.

One of our assistants in the Bond Street shop was Ian Goldstein.

His father was well-known among the Jewish fraternity as a smoked

salmon curer. Ian was a hippy, wearing high boots and leather-fringed

jackets, though it was a regulation dark suit that he wore for work.

One busy Christmas Eve, he said to me, “Mr Symons, what time are

we closing?” I looked him hard in the eye, “When we stop taking the

money because tomorrow is Christmas Day.” Ian and I still joke about

that today. Ian is now retired, but he did go into his father’s smoked

salmon business. Easier hours than the retail industry, I suspect.

We were expanding and that was expensive business, so we needed to

borrow money from the bank. Our bank was Barclays and, at that time,

our borrowings were near to the £1 million mark. 60 years ago, that was

a lot of money. Back then, the bank managers had flexibility and could

make decisions up to a high level. All that has changed now. One day,

40

Carol and I were invited to a fancy-dress party and I found a postman’s

hat in the showroom of Angels, a classic costume supplier to theatre and

film companies. On the way back to the office, I had to see the manager

at Barclays, my postman hat under my arm. The manager deliberated,

unable to give me a decision. I took the hat and put it on his head. “I’d

like to take a photograph of you, the messenger boy.” He had reached his

corporate limit; there was no more money release coming from him. To

give him his due, he took the postman hat in good humour.

In the end, we had 96 outlets in department stores and shops all

over the country. We employed eight area supervisors. Each supervisor

oversaw ten outlets. When video cameras came out, we supplied each

supervisor with one. They would video the stores, cupboards, displays,

lightbulbs and even the toilets to make sure they were spotless. Then,

once a month, we would have meetings and they would run their videos

and we would discuss the viewings in detail. You could say it was the

early days of discipline for our retail jewellery outlets.

I had offices in Piccadilly above the Green & Symons shop. I enjoyed

the wide variety of characters I would see in the West End. Cyril comes

to mind. With the true swagger of Soho, he would sing and dance on the

street. Outside the shop was a charity collection box with a statue of a

pretty disabled girl. Every morning, I would see Cyril empty all his pocket

change into the collection box. He was an extremely generous man.

When he died, they closed off Berwick Street and Shaftesbury Avenue for

his coffin to pass by. I wonder if Jimmy Logie received a tribute as fitting.

Logie had been a boyhood hero of mine, a great Arsenal footballer during

the 1940s and 1950s. Years later, from the window of my Piccadilly office,

I would see him selling papers on the cold West End streets.

Marble Arch had its share of characters too. There was Bernard

who was a pleasant Jewish newspaper seller, often giving my children

comics. I would occasionally give him a cigar, which he loved. Then, on

a Sunday morning, he would go into Hyde Park at Speakers’ Corner,

stand on a box and berate people – not quietly, I must add. He would

wind people up, be very antagonistic and if he saw an Arab…well, you

do not want to know.

41

All the shops, watches and jewellery could only lead to a temptation

of a different kind: robberies. We had a few. One man came into the

shop in Piccadilly Circus with a carrier bag full of cotton wool soaked

in paraffin. He lit his cigarette, threw the match into his bag and

whoosh. Huge flames. He snatched a tray of rings and ran out. Someone

shouted, “Thief!” and outside, a man rugby tackled him and brought

him down. Luckily, the fire did not damage the shop.

Another robbery was at our main Green & Symons shop. There was

a cinema next door and thieves tunnelled from the cinema into the

shop and took £75,000 worth of goods. I was called out and arrived to

find the local detectives also helping themselves to our jewellery. Savile

Row detectives! I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Come on guys, put

the goods back.” And they did.

From robbers to gangsters, we had our share. When we first opened,

a couple of heavy men came in. “We’ll look after you, see there’s no

trouble,” they said, obviously expecting protection money. I pointed to

our security cameras. “Smile for the camera. It’s linked to the Savile

Row police station.” Their language was explosive, but they left emptyhanded

and they never came back to that shop.

Talking about gangsters, my father being a bookmaker meant he

came across a lot of questionable people. The top gangster in London

at the time was Jack Comer, or ‘Jack Spot’, as he was known. He was

Jewish and part of the demonstration that stopped Oswald Mosley

walking through Cable Street in the East End in 1936. Jack Spot was on

nodding terms with my father. One day, he asked, “Lou, can you give

Hymie a job?” Hymie was Jack’s right-hand man, very small, very dapper,

an ex-boxer. His name was Hymie Rosen but he was known as ‘Hymie

the Hammer’, which tells you exactly what he used to do for his boss.

Obviously, my father had no choice at all in the matter. Hymie, in fact,

turned out to be a gentleman with the public, but with the gangsters it

was a different matter. He worked for my father for 28 years.

One man at the races was very upset and poured sugar into my

father’s petrol tank. Hymie spotted him in action and quickly dealt with

the matter. I also remember in Cardiff, I played cards against a London

42

team. I was losing money and then realised it was a crooked game.

I refused to pay. They knew who my father was and approached him

at the races for the money they claimed I owed them. Hymie stepped

into the frame and I never heard another word. When my father died,

I paid Hymie what money was due to him, plus his redundancy.

50 years ago, credit cards were a novelty and many shops would

not take them. At the time, we used to sell Dunhill lighters, £7 and 7

shillings for silver plate or £8 and 8 shillings for gold plate. Today, their

price is about £175. Visitors from Japan went into Dunhill’s in Jermyn

Street and asked for 100 of their lighters. The same lighters sold for

three times the price in Japan. Dunhill was happy to oblige, until the

Japanese produced their credit cards. Dunhill refused to accept the

cards for payment, but said they knew of a shop who would: Green &

Symons in Piccadilly who stocked Dunhill lighters. In they came, ready

to buy, but we only stocked a dozen. I phoned Dunhill to acquire the

100 lighters, sent a member of staff to collect them and the Japanese

paid us by credit card. We could not believe how old-fashioned Dunhill

were back then, sending a client to us who spent £800.

The first Green & Symons shop in Piccadilly Circus

43

The second Green & Symons shop, Piccadilly Circus

The Green & Symons shop in Basildon

44

CHAPTER SIX

Carol, Children and Castles

When we had the shops in Piccadilly Circus, I lived with Helen,

Mick, their children and my father in Danescroft Avenue.

Helen and Mick had three children: Robert, Lloyd and Simon. Lloyd

and Simon passed away some time ago now. Lloyd did marry, but I will

come to that later. Robert also married and has two children. The

house was in Danescroft Gardens, Hendon, and a few doors down

lived a skinny, scrawny girl, eight years younger than me. I never took

much notice of her. Her name was Carol Freedman.

When I was 27, I was driving past Holders Hill in the red Jaguar

I drove at the time. At the bus stop by the Brent Bridges Hotel, I saw

this stunning, tanned, beautiful girl. I pulled up and used an oldtime

ploy. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but there aren’t any buses

today. They’re on strike. If you like, I could give you a lift?” Right on

cue, a double-decker bus appeared at the top of the hill. “Don’t you

recognise me?” she laughed. I apologised as she entered the car. It

was, of course, Carol.

The following evening, we went out for a date. It was late 1963.

I took her to a smart restaurant on the King’s Road. She wore a white

ermine stole. She later told me she had borrowed it from her friend,

Miriam. This was a good sign. She must have been interested enough

in me to make an effort to look her best. She captured me on that

first date.

45

We subsequently went out on several dates. I remember on one, she

was told to be back by 11pm. True to form, her father was waiting for

her outside when I brought her home – at 11pm, I would like to add.

In January 1964, I went on holiday with two friends of mine,

Malcolm Friedman (no relation to Carol) and Harvey Singer who was

from Manchester. We rented a flat in Miami. Being a boys’ holiday,

girls were very much in the minds of my two friends, but not for me. A

certain someone back home in England had taken my interest.

A highlight of the holiday was seeing Cassius Clay fight against the

World Champion, Sonny Liston. Cassius Clay won the title. Previously,

we saw a match with a wrestler called Gorgeous George. He walked

into the ring wearing a large cloak and was accompanied by a butler

who sprayed him with cologne. Gorgeous George was positively abusive

to the crowd and they loved it. Many years later, Muhammad Ali, as

he had now become known, said he had watched Gorgeous George on

occasions and noted how rude he was to his opponent and the crowd.

It had electrified the match, so he thought he would try the same.

Having realised how much I missed Carol while I was away,

I returned to England with resolve. “I am going to marry you,” I said

to her. She said yes.

I did ask Carol’s father for his permission. In those days, I suppose

I came across as the Jack the Lad of Danescroft Gardens. I had a flashy

car. I do not think her father was keen on me taking her out, let alone

marrying her. His response was better than I had expected. “Do you

have the means to support my daughter?” With all my hard work over

the last 10 years, I could confidently confirm that I would look after

Carol well.

Six months later, we were married. Carol was 21. The religious

ceremony was at the Norrice Lea synagogue and the reception was held

at The Savoy Hotel. It was a grand affair. We stayed in the Honeymoon

Suite, quite sumptuous with a private staircase leading from the

ballroom to our suite. The bill for the suite was £21, or 20 guineas.

Helen’s husband, Mick, was my best man and Carol’s uncle, Bert,

also spoke at the wedding reception. Bert Perkoff was a notable solicitor.

46

He defended Jack Spot, the aforementioned gangster, following a fight

with Albert ‘Italian’ Dimes in Old Compton Street. The case went up

to the Old Bailey and Perkoff Solicitors found a priest to testify in the

box. The priest swore on oath that Italian Dimes had been the attacker,

not Jack Spot, and the case was dismissed. Later, it was proven that the

priest had lied.

Many years later, Carol and I returned to The Savoy to celebrate our

50th wedding anniversary. We took the children and the rest of the

family. Carol wore her wedding dress. After all those years, the dress

still fitted her like a glove. The children loved it. She wanted to change

for dinner, but they insisted she stay in her dress. I went to reception

later and showed them the old receipt for the Honeymoon Suite. The

charge was 21 guineas. They told me it would cost me £2,500 now for

the night. They were amused that Carol had kept the receipt for so long.

Our honeymoon was an extravagant affair, with five weeks of

holiday starting in Israel. We stayed at the Arcadia Hotel in Herzliya,

which has not changed one bit since. I was not terribly happy with it.

The Federman family owned it then. They also owned the Dan Hotel

in Tel Aviv, which we looked at, but decided to stay put. From the

Arcadia, we visited Jerusalem. On our way, we were stopped by a group

of construction workers who told us they were about to dynamite the

road. “If you hang on a moment,” the main man said, “it’ll be funny.”

Bang went the explosion, and all the Palestinian workers went running

for their lives.

In Jerusalem, we stayed at the King David Hotel opposite the

YMCA. From the top terrace, you could see the Wailing Wall, but you

couldn’t get to it. It was 1964 and controlled by Jordan. That was before

the Six-Day War in 1967.

It was a limited viewing of Israel then, but I remember flying on

the Israeli El Al Airline over the land and the hostess saying, “If you

look down now, you will see the green of Israel, and then you will see

the sand of the Arab countries.” It was a stark lesson in the difference

between the technology of Israel and the backwardness of the Arab

nations at that time.

47

We also took a bus journey to Eilat, a six-hour trip through the desert.

On the way, we stopped at Sde Boker, where Ben-Gurion lived, just for a

look around. The Queen of Sheba was the only hotel in Eilat. I remember

asking a waiter for a gin and tonic and him saying to me, “But you had

one 20 minutes ago.” That is how things were in Israel then.

We then went on to Rome and stayed at the Excelsior Hotel. Carol

loved the shopping there; it was inexpensive at the time. We were in a

taxi and the traffic was so bad, we told the driver we would walk the

rest of the way to the hotel. All those years ago, Rome was in gridlock.

Back home, we bought our first house in Bryanston Mews opposite

Seymour Hall Swimming Pool and Sports Centre. We became friends

with many people who lived in the mews. There was Cyril Green,

who manufactured the shirts called ‘Tern’. Next door to us lived Alex

Wilson whose mother opened the first washing machine launderette

in London on Queensway. There was also Donald Nelson, a solicitor.

He and I have been pals for many years, and we bought our next homes

next door to each other. We also enjoyed various holidays with Cyril

Green and Yvonne, to Athens, Venice and Kitzbühel.

At the end of the mews was a man, originally an osteopath, who

later committed suicide. His name was Stephen Ward and he lived with

two women, Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davis. I was not aware

of what was going on, but when the police arrested him, the Profumo

Affair broke. It was a major case and brought down the government.

I used to take a taxi to the office in Piccadilly every day. One day,

I had a phone call from Gravesend Police Station. They had my car,

which had been stolen from our garage in the mews. Bearing in mind

I would get taxis to work, they were astounded to have had it for six

weeks without me reporting it missing.

We were at Bryanston Mews for three years and had two children

there. Richard, our eldest, was born in 1965. Next was David in 1966.

Richard was born in The London Clinic. Carol’s gynaecologist was

Jack Suchet. His two children later found fame on television. David

starred in Poirot, the television series which lasted 25 years, and the

other, John, was a newscaster. I was in the room with Carol just before

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she had our first baby. Her mother was there too. Jack Suchet walked

in and said, “Here, we don’t allow the mothers of our mothers-to-be.”

He asked Carol’s mother to leave. From that day on, she never spoke to

him again. Jack Suchet delivered all our children.

We were also friends with another lawyer, Alan Lorenz, whose

mother was a fashionable milliner, Mitzi Lorenz. Mitzi and her

Hungarian husband would have luncheons on a Sunday with many

guests, including ourselves and the Suchets, so we were able to know

them all on a social level too. I had been introduced to Alan Lorenz

by my previous solicitor, Alfred Kerstein, the Old Fox from my laddish

days in Liverpool. Alfred was due to retire and Alan came highly

recommended. Alan’s company, Lorenz and Jones, have looked after

my legal affairs for the last 63 years.

There were often boxing events at Seymour Hall opposite the mews

promoted by Benny Smidt Boder, who was later a member of St John’s

Wood Synagogue. I began to know Benny better from holidays in

Israel, and in the end, we owned three racehorses together, but I’ll

come to that later. One part of our house was on Bryanston Mews,

the other part was on Seymour Place. For the events, we would have

some 40 to 50 coaches pulling up outside our home. Carol would stand

outside, making a coach move along and immediately another would

take its place. It was a futile exercise on her part.

We had a white West Highland dog called Okey, short for my family

name, Okenoff. Cyril Green next door had a black West Highland.

The dogs used to go on their own for walks. Together, they looked like

the Johnnie Walker black and white advert!

Carol was soon pregnant again and we needed a larger home. We

had bought the mews house for £13,000 and sold it for £21,000. We

sold it to Anthony Speelman, a dealer in Dutch art whose major client

was Paul Getty, the oil magnate who had the Getty museum in Los

Angeles, California. Afterwards, we became friends and have remained

so for 50 years.

It was 1969. We were by now very friendly with our neighbours,

Donald and Cheryl Nelson, and together we found two adjoining

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houses on Elm Tree Road, St John’s Wood. The developer was Sir

Louis Gluckstein, one of the family of J. Lyons and Co. The houses had

sat empty for two years – that wouldn’t have happened today, of course.

They were £31,000 and Donald and I bought one each. We now had

our larger family home, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. We

threw a housewarming party and invited all our family and friends as

well as Sir Louis and Lady Gluckstein who lived next door. When we

introduced them to one of Carol’s uncles, he was so impressed that he

bowed to Sir Louis! He must have thought he was meeting the king

of England. After some time living at the property, I became aware

that Sir Louis, who was over 80 years of age, had an attachment to a

schoolteacher who lived opposite. I can see them now, sitting in a small

Morris Minor car outside her house, holding hands in the dark.

Between our two houses was a communal drive we shared with

the Nelsons. One day, I parked my car blocking the entrance to our

separate garages behind. Donald was annoyed and let down two of my

tyres. I caught him in the act and chased after him. I lost my temper.

Carol’s mum, who was visiting, ran up to intervene. I swung a punch

and instead of hitting Donald I caught Carol’s mum. I was not in her

best books. Donald and I managed to resolve our differences and

remained close friends.

Our first daughter, Louise, was born and then came Laura who was

born in the Lindo Wing, a private hospital next to St Mary’s Hospital,

Paddington.

Carol decided she wanted to move. Her father had died and she was

depressed. So, we bought a larger house with a short lease in Cavendish

Avenue. We only stayed there for two years. One of our neighbours,

two doors away, was Paul McCartney. He would play his music at the

end of his garden and we would hear it every night. He had a large dog,

a hound. This hound would jump over the fences into our garden and

our housekeeper, Daphne, who eventually worked for us for over 45

years, would feed him. No wonder he was so keen on our garden! Our

next-door neighbour was a man called Nat Fenton. He opened one of

the first casinos in London, ending up with a chain of major casinos

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which he sold to Mecca. I subsequently sold the Cavendish property

to Harvey and Angela Soning. He loved the house and we have been

friends with them for the last 45 years.

Next, we bought a short lease on 3 Norfolk Road. We lived there

for 15 years and subsequently bought a 99-year lease from the Eyre

Estate for £250,000. Norfolk Road always had parking problems. One

side of the road was in Westminster, the other was in Camden. Our

problem was that all the children were grown up and we had seven

cars, all provided by me, to be parked nearby. There were yellow lines

outside our house. Carol made me buy some black paint and, under

duress, I painted over the yellow lines. When the police came around

to question this strange graffiti, Carol denied all knowledge of it. Due

to our parking dilemma, the traffic wardens were trouble too. Carol

enjoyed gardening at the front of the house, but her water hose had a

mind of its own when a traffic warden happened to wander by. The

hose would suddenly spray over the wall, drenching the warden from

head to foot!

Carol has always been mischievous – she still is. We had some

friends, Ian and Jennifer Rosenberg, who bought a house from Edward

Seiff (of Marks & Spencer) in Queen’s Grove. Edward Seiff wanted

to move as he’d had a Palestinian terrorist knock on his front door

there. The man shot him in the mouth. Seiff paid thanks to his dentist

– the bullet ricocheted off his teeth and saved his life. Jennifer had

started work at M&S at the same time as Carol. Carol arranged for

a sign to be fitted outside their house in Queen’s Grove. It read: ‘Bed

& Breakfast. Cheap Rates.’ Ian was a prankster too, so enjoyed the

fun. Then, Jennifer was giving a luncheon party and Carol found a

very large pair of women’s bloomers and hung them on a washing line

outside their windows.

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On holiday in Tenerife, aged 22

On holiday in Miami, aged 27

52

Steak dinner in Miami, 1963

Carol’s mother and father

53

On our honeymoon in Israel

On our honeymoon in Italy

54

In Rome, on our honeymoon

On our honeymoon in Rome

55

In London

56

Out for dinner

57

Louise, Lauren and Carol

58

CHAPTER SEVEN

Shop Openings

In 1968, we opened in Debenhams in Oxford Street, selling jewellery.

We took nearly £1 million a year in the store. Bear in mind that

Debenhams’ total store take was £26 million. We were very important

to them, on top of which we were paying them 27% of our take.

Green & Symons now had some 700 staff, with retail outlets in

England, Wales and Scotland. To pacify Carol, I had taken on a

multitude of Carol’s aunts as well as her mother, Ray. Ray worked

for us in the shop next to the Cumberland Hotel. She was terrific

at sales, but very untidy and needed two assistants to tidy up after

her. On one occasion, it was her birthday and I hired an actor. We

gave him a whisky bottle filled with black tea. He staggered into the

shop and said he wanted to buy a diamond ring. The other assistants

refused to serve him and asked him to leave. Then he pulled a boodle

prepared by me out his pocket. A boodle is a roll of paper with a few

£5 notes rolled around the outside to give the impression it could

be £1,000. Ray told the other staff, “Not to worry – I’ll handle this.”

She placed the customer’s whisky bottle to one side and began to

serve him.

At this point, I walked in. “What is going on?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I have this all under control,” Ray replied.

I watched her for a moment, then said, “There’s no way we’re

allowing this man in our shop unless he can sing a song to you!”

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The actor gave a thumbs-up-governor and proceeded to sing, “Hello

Booba, well hello Booba, it’s so good to see you looking swell.” Ray

realised we had set her up, laughed and took it well. Carol and the

children, who had been hiding outside the shop, all came in and it was

a very happy birthday to Booba all round.

One day, I was up north in Newcastle to check up on an outlet we

had in Binns Department Store. On the High Street, I saw a jewellery

shop with a big sign: ‘Half-price jewellery’. The place was heaving. All

the products were displayed showing their original and discounted

price. Seeing this made me consider my company’s method of trading.

Back in London, I decided we should move into half-price jewellery

and Piccadilly Circus was the place to do it. My neighbour at the time,

Cyril Green, had two sons running an advertising company. We took

out advertisements in The Sunday People and the News of the World. They

had a circulation of three to four million each. The cost for two halfpages

was £27,000, quite a gamble. Alongside the newspaper ads, we

employed Kenny Everett to front advertisements on Capital Radio.

Kenny Everett was one of the top and funniest comedians of the time

The papers were out on the Sunday. The next day, outside our

Piccadilly shop, we had queues 50–100 yards long, everyone wanting to

buy cut-price jewellery.

At Christmas, we had Arthur Mullard and another artist booked

to be outside Selfridges, both dressed as Santa. Arthur was a real ‘Corblimey’

cockney. The other artist did not show and when my managing

director, John Silver, asked me what to do, I said with a smile, “It’s

simple.” Reluctantly, he followed my instructions and put on the red suit

and beard. When a child approached Silver for his autograph, he could

not wait to sign the leaflet. Arthur Mullard peered over his shoulder

as Silver signed his own name. “You’re f****** Father Christmas!” he

whispered fiercely in his ear!

Mail order was part of the half-price scheme. My neighbour Cyril,

of the ‘Tern’ shirt success, was at this point retired. His sons were

busy on our new advertising campaign. Michael Green was married to

Janet Wolfson, the granddaughter of Isaac Wolfson of Great Universal

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Stores. I asked Cyril if he would run the mail order business and he

liked the idea. We had premises at Shirley House in Camden. The

landlord was Melvin Bentley who became partners with Jewish caterer

Tony Paige. They have both been friends of mine for many years.

Following the first advert, several mailbags arrived. There was nearly

£1 million sent through the post. It was overwhelming, so much so that

Cyril had a heart attack. As they were taking him out on a stretcher,

I told him I would see him tomorrow. I was joking and his language in

response to my remark was very colourful.

However, mail order proved to be unsuccessful. We received back

£250,000 worth of goods. The paperwork needed to process letters

and invoices, returning the money and the state of some of the goods

returned was dreadful. It was not the best part of the new scheme. The

retail side worked well, though.

At Piccadilly, we had crowds queuing. It was strange. One customer

would want a £5 gold chain, another a £250 diamond ring, and it took

as long to serve each. We hired a doorman to walk the line of people,

finding those customers looking to spend over £100. He would usher

the higher spenders to the front so that we could maximise the takings.

This all went on for quite a long time and other jewellers began to

follow suit. I agreed with two jewellers from Hatton Garden, who

were also advertising in the Sunday papers, that we would not slash

prices against each other when placing our adverts. One jeweller was

not honourable and placed an advertisement undercutting everyone’s

prices. A printer’s error, he claimed. Do you think we believed him?

Eventually, after one year of trading, half-price became the regular

price. It was an interesting phase of the jewellery business.

Piccadilly was the strength of the company and in its day, it was a

colourful area. There were ladies of the night, mostly French, who used

to operate from the Regent Palace Hotel near the shops. There was

one whose name was Rose Marie. She wore a mink coat and was very

elegant. We had a gold cigarette case in the window reserved for her.

Rose Marie would find her client at the Regent Palace and bring him to

the shop. She would point it out and ask if I could come down from the

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office. She would ask me, “How much is that cigarette case?” and she

would hold up her hands behind the client: five fingers, four fingers

or three. I would name a price according to how many fingers she put

up. She would say, “I like it.” Whatever he paid, she would bring the

cigarette case back the next day and we would split the money. That

went on for years, during which time the cigarette case could never be

sold to anyone but Rose Marie.

Then came the Street Offences Act. It was part of the Wolfenden

report. It put an end to the ladies of night on the streets and began to

change Piccadilly forever. Our landlord asked us to agree to an increased

rent for our main property. Piccadilly Circus was establishing higher

rents as the area moved towards a different direction. Six months later,

the landlord, as previously agreed with me, bought the property back

from us for £250,000. A lot of skulduggery went on with shops and

their landlords in those days.

My final work in the real jewellery business came about 30 years

ago. At the time, Green & Symons was running out of steam. Mick

was unwell and my sister Helen had passed away some years earlier.

Mick and I had given Lloyd, their middle son, two shops. One was at

the Mayfair Hotel, the other at the Britannia Hotel, both in London,

neither one a success. Robert, their eldest, had trained as a chartered

accountant and worked in the family business. So, Green & Symons

was now being run by my nephew, Robert Green, who had become the

company accountant, and the managing director, John Silver.

A friend of mine, Tony Diner, said his brother-in-law had become

chairman of a Swedish bank, Gamlestaaden, who were backing

a retail fashion jewellery business called TORQ. Torq is Welsh for

a necklace or a collar. They were looking for someone to run the

company. I had a chat with the Swedish bank, which was a sister of

Nobel of Sweden, of Nobel Industries. TORQ had 12 shops and had

made a loss of £700,000 the previous year. I could see that with the

right product and the introduction of fashion watches, it could be

successful. I agreed to take over. The head offices were in Guildford,

so I would catch the train from Waterloo. I very quickly saw that six

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shops did not have a chance in hell and closed them down. Over the

course of two years, I opened over 90 shops, about one a week all

over the country, in England, Scotland and Wales. TORQ was one

of the first retailers to open in airports. The development of shops in

airports had only just started. No one had realised just how profitable

airport outlets could be.

The managing director of TORQ at the time was Kevin Bucock

who had previously been the managing director of Combined English

Stores. The chairman of CES was Murray Gordon who had real

jewellery shops, 100 of them. Landlords were developing shopping malls

and Kevin Bucock was a good property negotiator, so we made many

deals. Regrettably, he was not a good retailer. I immediately started

buying fashion jewellery from Hong Kong and I added hairpieces

from Bangkok: hairclips and the like. I also introduced fashion

watches, which proved a success. They were all customised with the

name TORQ. We would buy them for $6 and sell for £30, a fantastic

markup. For the sales, this markup meant we could really drop the

prices. Kevin Bucock’s partner, Gloria, was the senior buyer and we

travelled to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Taipei, sourcing new stock. Kevin

and I negotiated with the landlords over that period of time and they

made major contributions of millions of pounds towards the setting up

of the TORQ shops. They were virtually free of all development costs.

Over the course of the two years, we went into meaningful profits,

a turnover of £33 million. On average, each shop was taking £250,000

to £300,000 per year.

I had a bonus due to me of £500,000 and I forsook that bonus,

giving it to Green & Symons as a loan. They were struggling. Robert

Green had told me that £500,000 was owed, so I thought my bonus

would cover it. Problems carried on with Green & Symons and

I invested a total of £1,150,000. Then, Robert told me that he had

found another £300,000 worth of debt which had not been entered

into the books. Green & Symons was on the verge of collapse. I had

committed enough money and cut off further communication. The

business subsequently closed down.

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At TORQ, we also had problems. Over two years, the Swedish

bank, Gamlestaaden, made many disastrous loans. It was a time when

there was a lot of lending to poor property risks. Gamlestaaden and the

support from Nobel ceased. At TORQ, our borrowings were £1 million

per year which we paid back – we were in credit for Christmas. Then,

when we needed funds again to purchase new stock, Gamlestaaden

told me they did not have any money at all. Clearly, the business could

not continue as it was and having no debenture in place left me with

no options.

Various investors came to buy the bank, one of which was Philip

Green. I have to be careful with this one. I had known Philip for many

years. When his wife, Tina, was about to have his daughter, Chloe,

he asked Carol to take Tina to hospital. We were that close. Philip

turned up with a senior manager from Barclays and they wanted to

take over TORQ. Then, Philip said he wanted a word with me on the

quiet. The plan he proposed was not acceptable to me and there was

no further discussion.

Eventually, TORQ was taken over. Rumi Verjee, of Domino’s Pizza

and Thomas Goode, who has since become a Lord, headed up the

company. Rumi clearly did not want to work with me, but he did want

to work with Kevin Bucock, the same Bucock who, when I took over the

company, had them losing £700,000. I walked away. I had no choice.

TORQ collapsed 18 months later. It was profitable when I ran it.

I kept up my relationship with Rumi and when I started Parks

Candles, I was selling candles to Thomas Goode. A funny incident

happened later when I was at a charity function. Gerald Ratner was

there, as well as Rumi Verjee. I said, “I would like to introduce the two

of you. Rumi Verjee, you stole my business, TORQ. Gerald Ratner,

you ruined my business, Green & Symons, in Debenhams.” They

both laughed. I am still friendly with both, but this is what happens

in business.

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CHAPTER EIGHT

Holidays

Before I was married, I remember my first holiday abroad. I was 20

and heading to South Africa on the Union-Castle liner, which

took five days. The return fare was £55. The boat stopped at Tenerife.

It was rather pleasant, so I disembarked and stayed there. I found a

hotel, the Santa Catalina, which was the best. It cost £7 a week and

I stayed for three weeks. I subsequently returned to England on a cargo

ship, a journey of 10 days.

The second holiday I had was with friends in Cannes. We stayed

at the Martinez Hotel. This was 65 years ago and it cost us less than

£10 a week. At that time, you were only allowed to take £25 out of the

UK, so I borrowed £100 from a moneylender in the city. His name was

Moishe. I enjoyed a night out at a casino and was on a roll, winning

£600 – there was no stopping me. That evening, I was approached

by a gangster’s wife: Gypsy was her name. She was the wife of Billy

Hill, the number one gangster in England. “You seem to know what

you’re doing,” she whispered into my ear. “Let’s go into partnership.”

Bedazzled by her, I agreed. Unfortunately, she did the playing, we lost

all the money and that was the end of that! Cannes was a city full of

surprises and while there, I went to one of the first discotheques, the

Whisky A Gogo. I was dancing with a girl when a friend whispered in

my ear, “That’s not a girl you’re dancing with. It’s a man!” I nearly had a

heart attack. Since I had travelled around a lot with the markets, those

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experiences meant I had grown up at some speed. However, travel

abroad was proving to be another kettle of fish altogether.

On a few occasions, I went with friends and my brother-in-law,

Mick, to Las Vegas, our love of boxing being the main attraction. The

first time was in 1973 to see Joe Bugner fight Muhammad Ali. I was

booked to stay at Caesars Palace. I had been told by a friend to take a

box of Havana cigars and give them to Billy Weinberger, the managing

director at Caesars. Cuban cigars were banned in America back then

and the gift would ensure I was treated well for my stay. On check-in

at the hotel, I left the cigar box at reception. Later that evening, I was

playing cards when there was a tap on my shoulder.

“Hello. I’m Billy Weinberger. Thank you for the cigars, Sidney.” He

paused for a moment. “Sidney, it would make me very happy if you

didn’t play cards anymore.”

When I asked why, he quite simply replied, “Because you’re useless

at playing them.”

I asked him how he knew and he pointed to the cameras overhead.

He had been watching me. I can’t deny it. Billy Weinberger was right;

I was and still am useless at playing cards. When it came to paying my

bill at Caesars Palace, I was told there was no bill. The cigars proved to

be a good investment.

As I have said, the main event of our Vegas trip was the fight between

Ali and Joe Bugner. Mick, Irvine Goldstein and I backed Bugner to go

the full 12 rounds. The bet was with Mickey Duff. Our £300 bet at

4/1 paid off as Bugner held his own, but our faith in Mickey did not.

It took two years to get paid.

A sad postscript to my trip was seeing one of my heroes at the hotel.

Joe Louis, the great ex-world champion, was sweeping the hotel floor.

The great Louis himself. The management would have preferred him

to be front of house, greeting guests at reception, but he insisted on

being more useful. By this point, his dementia had set in and the blows

he had received had taken their toll.

Once Carol and I had the children, we bought a home in the South

of France at Beaulieu-sur-Mer. It was a three-bedroom duplex apartment

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overlooking the port. We bought a mooring too for a Tulio Abarte

speedboat, which was very fast. In the boat, we could speed from

Beaulieu to Cannes in 45 minutes, no licence required. When we first

looked at the apartment, it was very nice, but the walls were covered

with heavy red damask wallpaper, not in keeping with the sunny seaside

location. We had bought the apartment from a couple and I remember

the wife insisted on giving us the spare red wallpaper. Our friends, Ian

Caplan and his wife, Ro, had a place nearby in Monte Carlo. They had

found a Frenchman/Italian called Jean Pierre to redecorate for them

and suggested we try him. He refurbished our apartment from top

to bottom – new kitchen, bathrooms, everything – and made it very

pleasant. We recommended Jean Pierre, who had moved to London,

to some other friends: David Slade, who had bought the apartment

next to ours, as well as Carol’s cousin, Keith. From his humble offices

in Menton, Jean Pierre went on to build and design some 60 shops all

over the world for the jeweller Laurence Graff, including in Hong Kong

and Tokyo.

Ian Caplan, my long-term friend from my schooldays, had run

a company, Caplan Profile, that manufactured office furniture.

It successfully went public, hence his move to Monte Carlo, a wellknown

tax haven. An investigation into the Caplan Profile floatation

exposed discrepancies in the figures. He was forced to give the money

back to the company. Ro, his wife, had been a beauty queen and,

after the collapse, together they moved to America where he hooked

up with Brian Lennard from the shoe family. Lennard Shoes owned

about 250 shops in England, including every freehold. They were an

extremely wealthy family. Caplan and Lennard started a shoe business

in America, but ultimately it failed and folded. Lennard, who in fact

I had known since my 20s, was an avid gambler. He ended up losing

his family fortune and his wife and two children left him. Now, he is a

psychiatrist and Ian died at a relatively young age. A sad cry away from

the sunny days on the French Riviera.

When we first had the apartment in France, we would visit it eight

to ten times a year. We would fly from London to Nice and get a taxi

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to Beaulieu. I then bought a car, which I left down there. We regularly

had family and friends come to visit us. One was Carole Cutner, a

well-known photographer who indicated she had a dalliance with the

Prince of Wales. She had taken photographs of the prince as well as

taking photographs of all of our children. We still have the photos.

We also made other good friends, such as Suzette and David Morris.

David was a well-known jeweller with a salon on Bond Street. David

and Suzette had a large boat with four cabins and we often went on

long trips with them to Sardinia, Italy and different parts of France, for

five to six days at a time.

In the winter, we would go skiing with the children from Beaulieu

to Isola 2000. In the summer, there were also lots of restaurants near

to our seaside apartment which we used to frequent. One hotel called

La Réserve was opposite and we spent many happy lunches by the pool

with our friends. Then, in a neighbouring port, there was a restaurant

with a plaque to the American Sixth Fleet, thanking them following

the liberation from Germany. But for all our good times in France, we

never made friends with the French.

After 15 years, the children had grown up and they were not

interested in this sleepy seaside town. They wanted the buzz found in

the likes of Juan-les-Pins. The business was going through a difficult time

and needed an injection of money. I sold the apartment. Six months

later, I bought another apartment in Beaulieu, but I had problems with

the developer. It was a ground-floor apartment and the swimming pool

was meant to be six metres away from our private terrace. When we

visited, the pool was only two metres away from the terrace. I took the

developer to court. The developer, it appears, was an important local

man. I hired an English-speaking lawyer, but there was some jiggery

pokery and I lost the case. We sold that apartment after three years.

Carol had decided hotels would make for easier holidays. I sold the

boat too, at a big loss, but I made a profit on the mooring.

Some 40 years ago, we went on a skiing holiday in Kitzbühel,

Austria, with our cousins, David Norton and his wife, Sandra. We

rented a chalet together. It was New Year’s Eve and the wives went

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to have their hair done. The hairdresser was very busy, so the girls

ended up washing their own hair. The hairdresser then proceeded

to give them a stiff bill. The girls said it was crazy as they had

done all the work themselves. He turned to them and said, “You

English pigs are all the same!” The girls became very distressed and

left without paying the bill. The hairdresser called the police who

arrived and arrested Carol in the street. Someone came to find me

and I went to the police station with David. We explained what

had happened and how abusive the hairdresser had been to our

wives. The police let Carol go. David and I happened to walk past

the hairdresser’s shop on the way back. We went in and I had an

argument with him. He was rude again, so I hit him. He fell against

a showcase and bounced back. David, a big tough fellow, hit him

again and this time, the showcase fell flat with him spreadeagled on

top. We were all amused the next day when we saw the hairdresser

sporting two black eyes.

For five years, we sent the children to a holiday camp in America.

It was in Boston on a lake, with one side of the lake for the boys, the

other for the girls. The holiday camp was suggested to us when we

rented a house for six weeks in the Hamptons which was owned by

the composer for the movie Finian’s Rainbow, Burton Lane. We had

been sending the children to a holiday day school at Amagansett, Long

Island when friends told us to try the camp in Boston. It was a success;

all four children loved it. Both Laura and Louise returned when they

were older to work there. Louise, who was good at tennis, went back

as a coach and Laura as a camp counsellor. Harvey Soning, a friend of

ours, also sent his four boys to the same camp.

I remember on our way out to Long Island, we stayed at the Plaza

Hotel in New York. We went to see a show at Radio City which

included a chorus line, a troupe known as The Rockettes made up of

48 showgirls, which was quite remarkable.

Another house we rented was in San Diego, California. Ian and Ro

Caplan also rented there. It was part of a tennis centre run by Pancho

González, a former world champion. I remember watching him train

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a player with an incredible serve. When I spoke to Pancho, I said, “He

looks fantastic.”

Pancho pointed to his head. “Yes, but he has no brains.”

Carol and I took the children to a famous aquarium in San Diego.

When we walked in, I saw good seats in the front row, so I quickly

ushered the family into this prime viewing position. The music

heralded the start of the show and the dolphins were released. They

all leapt high into the air and down into the water, making a massive

wave so big that Carol, myself and the children on that front row were

totally drenched! There was a roar of laughter from the other people

in the audience, sitting a safe distance behind us. It was obviously the

Symons family’s first visit to the spectacle.

I remember the children swimming in a large pool in San Diego.

Laura swam down to the bottom and came up excitedly holding

something sparkling. It was a diamond ring and very valuable. I spoke to

the pool attendant who made an announcement over his loudspeaker.

A woman ran up to claim it and thanked Laura. At the time, I thought a

little gift of thanks would have been much appreciated by my daughter,

but regrettably, nothing.

Every Pesach (Passover) for about 10 years, we would holiday at the

Hilton in Tel Aviv. Some of the Marks’ boys would bunk down with

our two boys and David Morris’s daughter would bunk with our girls.

Carol’s mother would come too. We spent around 10 days there each

time. There were a lot of families doing the same and when we would

register at the Hilton, they would always say, “Welcome Home.”

We always spent Seder nights with Asher Loftus and his family.

Richard Loftus was very musical and would transpose all the

traditional Jewish songs to The Beatles’ music. We enjoyed many good

times with the Loftus family and Benny Smidt Boder and his family.

Benny, myself and Motel Gertler used to buy racehorses together;

we would own one third each. They were never very successful, but

it was something we had fun doing. At the Hilton, I remember one

incident around the swimming pool which involved us men having

another type of fun. There was a fashion parade showing a new Israeli

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swimwear designer called Gotex. Tony Diner, Harvey Rosenblatt and

I borrowed swimming costumes from Carol – one-pieces of course. We

each fitted two oranges in the appropriate place to look like a woman’s

bust and sashayed around the pool along with the fashion models! We

caused a massive disruption and my children, all four of them, thought

it was hilarious seeing their father in a woman’s bathing suit. Needless

to say, Gotex were furious.

Years later, we decided to go to Eilat for Pesach. It was up-andcoming

and they had a new hotel, the Princess, with a swimming pool

and a tennis court. I played a lot of tennis then. Many of our friends

moved on to the Princess at the same time. Eilat was underdeveloped

then, so we never really explored the town – everything we needed was

at the hotel. Originally, the airport ran directly through the middle of

the town, but as popularity grew, they moved it a 30-minute drive away.

When the children were still young, for six consecutive years in the

summer, we rented a villa in Italy at Forte dei Marmi. Friends of ours,

David and Sara Morein, took another villa. David was the accountant

at his family firm of jewellers, Kutchinsky. He and I would catch the

plane from Heathrow together to Pisa each Friday and back to London

each Sunday night or Monday morning. The price of the return plane

ticket was £42 – ridiculously cheap. The villas were called Villas Italia

and the chap who ran the complex was Bill Milareeni. We would take

over Andrea, the nanny and Carol Pead, a gym instructor. We did not

let the children swim in the sea as we were not sure about the quality

of water in Forte.

I do remember that we would leave all the swimsuits and towels

on the beach overnight and when we returned in the morning, they

would be beautifully laundered. We met a number of Italians on the

beach, mainly from Milan. They were mostly Jewish. 50 years on,

I know that my daughter-in-law’s uncle also lived in Milan and he

would spend summers in Forte dei Marmi at the same time as our

Italian holidays at the resort. To this day, there is a synagogue in

Forte which he opened.

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Opposite the beach was a playground for the children. The Italians

adore children. The waiters in the various restaurants we visited were

very kind too and made a huge fuss over the children, almost ignoring

the parents. There was a good market in Forte, with excellent linens,

towels and leather goods. We also used to go shopping in the city of

Pisa where Carol discovered Pucci. She just kept buying their dresses.

She said to me, “When I have eight Pucci dresses, I will never ever want

any other clothes at all.” No such luck. Many years later, Carol gave the

Pucci dresses to our daughter-in-law, Marcelle.

From Forte dei Marmi, I visited Carrara where the famous white

marble is quarried. This was Michelangelo territory. I was tempted to

buy a statue or two, but did not.

One holiday, Carol and I travelled around South America. We

arrived in Brazil by plane from Aruba in the Caribbean. I remember

in the Caribbean, the wind was so strong from the southwest that the

trees bent at right angles to the ground. They are known as the ‘divi

divi trees’ of Aruba. We visited a synagogue there from the seventeenth

century. At the Brazilian customs, we were stopped. For some reason,

they must have thought we were smuggling something. They actually

strip-searched both of us and of course found nothing.

We then explored Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. In Rio de

Janeiro, we went to the Mardi Gras and it was unbelievable. Everyone

was in exotic costumes, all dancing the samba. The leaders of each

troupe would use loud whistles to guide and conduct their entourage.

In Venezuela, we became very aware of the stark contrast between

the rich and the poor. On the cool plains, the wealthy enjoyed life in

their large villas while on the surrounding hills were shacks stacked

almost on top of each other. The people living in these shacks clearly

struggled to scratch out an existence. The rich had made their money

from oil and outside their villas you would see vintage cars, some 70

to 80 years old, all in immaculate condition. We visited a particular

cemetery in Argentina where there was a statue of a young girl and a

dog. The story was that the girl drowned while swimming in the sea

and, at the exact moment she died, her dog dropped dead on land.

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We later went back to Argentina for a 60th birthday party. Alan

Hassenfell is an American friend of ours. His party was quite something.

There was a lot of dancing and I remember tango dancers filling the

streets. The main boulevard in Buenos Aries was huge, at least twice

the width of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. They must have knocked

down houses either side to make it so wide.

I have been to South Africa twice and found it interesting. The

first time was when my grandson, Gabriel, was about to be born in

South Africa. For my second visit, I stayed at Ellerman House in Cape

Town, a luxurious hotel. One day during my stay, I had been playing

tennis with Michael Levy and when we arrived back together at the

hotel, Michael was given an urgent note. He quickly went to his room

and returned having changed into a blue shiny mohair suit. He was

accompanied by another suited gentleman whom I was introduced

to as a Mr Boateng. Having been brought up by a father who wore

his Savile Row suits with panache, I immediately asked Mr Boateng

if he had made Lord Levy’s suit. “No, that isn’t me. I’m the minister

for overseas development.” I was about to apologise for my mistake

when he added, “You’re thinking of my brother, Ozwald Boateng.”

The conversation was brief as Lord Levy had sad political matters to

attend to. The urgent note had informed him that the Prime Minister

of Israel, Ariel Sharon, had suffered a massive stroke. It was 2006.

Kenya was another African trip of ours, but while everyone else

took their cars up to see Mount Kenya, I was lucky enough to see it by

helicopter. We were enjoying the pool at our hotel one day when a very

tall Kenyan approached us. He must have been 6ft 6in tall. He asked if

my son, David, was around. I asked him who he was.

“I’m a member of the Kenyan boxing team. Your son is training

with us.”

David was 13 years old at the time. When I asked how he was getting

on, the man told me, “He is outstanding.”

Perhaps one of the most memorable trips was just after 1973, nearly

50 years ago, when we visited the secret air force base in the Negev, the

desert in southern Israel. The Yom Kippur War had recently ended.

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Asher and Betty Loftus had dedicated a synagogue on the base. We

flew there on a private jet commissioned by the Israeli Air Force. From

the air, you could not see the base at all. Everything was underground;

it was remarkable. When the Loftus family walked into the synagogue,

everyone put their arms around the couple and sang Israeli songs. It

was emotional for everyone.

In Devon

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In Israel with the children

In the South of France

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In Cap-Ferrat

In Marbella

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Venice

In the Far East

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Japan

India

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Zanzibar

Carol in Marbella, 2019

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In Buenos Aires

JIA jewellery appeal, 1973

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JIA jewellery committee, 1973

Jewish charity, making an appeal

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With Asher Loftus at a charity event

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CHAPTER NINE

Richard, David, Louise and Laura

My children are all in their 50s as I write this. It seems as though

it were only yesterday that I was waiting in the hospital for each

of them to be born. Over the course of six years, our family grew from

just Carol and me to having four children. It was a blessing.

My eldest son, Richard, was born in 1965 on November 5th,

Guy Fawkes Night, at The London Clinic. Richard’s first school was

Mrs McCaffrey’s Day School in St John’s Wood. This was a quintessential

English preparatory school. On entering the school, Mrs McCaffrey

would be standing at the door. The boys would take off their caps and

bow before entering. After three years, Richard then went to Lyndhurst

School in Hampstead until he was 13, before becoming a boarder at

Clifton College in Bristol. He joined the Jewish house at Clifton, called

Polacks, which had been going for over 100 years. One of my solicitors

was Ken Jones. He was not Jewish, but he told me, “If you want your

boys to have a balanced upbringing then send them to Clifton. There

are 700 children there, a Jewish house of approximately 70 boys, and

he will learn how to get on with all sorts of people.”

Richard was good at rugby and he enjoyed his time at Clifton. He was

not particularly academic, but when he left school, Carol insisted that

he go to university. He went to the University of London and gained a

degree in law. When he was at university, he also ran a disco. He was

earning £600 on a Saturday night. When I asked him why he stopped

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unning it, he told me it was not a business for a Jewish boy! That being

said, he previously had been happy to advertise his disco in The Jewish

Chronicle. There was another well-known disco called Banana Split run

by Julian Posner, his main competition. Richard added a quote to his

advert in The Jewish Chronicle: ‘The Banana is slipping.’ He received a

letter from Julian Posner’s lawyers citing defamation. Richard spoke to

me, as white as a ghost. I put my lawyers on to it. Their response was

simply put in a letter to Julian’s lawyers. “We notice that Banana Split

has not made any financial declarations to the treasury in four years.”

We never heard another word, but at the time, Richard was terrified.

When he left college, he went into the video business, selling

equipment to recording studios. He and his two partners made a

success of it and he was supplying recording studios in England, but

mainly in London. He also had a successful retail outlet on Great

Titchfield Street, off Tottenham Court Road. Then, he fell out with

his two partners and left the company. He started to make his own

documentaries, which were mostly political. One was an interview with

the wife of Arafat, the Palestinian leader. I met her and I could see

she was fond of Richard. He also made parliamentary documentaries,

as well as interviewed the Israeli president at the time, Shimon Peres.

Another of his documentaries was on reformed murderers, so he

covered a wide gamut. The most well-known documentary he made

was on the Ferrari/Cobra 24-hour race, for which he interviewed

Iacocca and Shelby.

Then, six years ago, I was diagnosed with lung cancer, which was

treated successfully. Richard came into the candle business to help me

during this time. He had a completely different outlook at Parks than

I did. Where I was known to take a substantial order scribbled on the

back of a packet of cigarettes, he was 99% paperless; everything was

computer-driven. He has done well for the company.

Richard has a pleasing personality. People like him and he gets on

well with most. He has been married for 18 years to Marcelle. Marcelle

Metta was born in Lebanon, but they were introduced to each other in

London. Richard is Ashkenazi; Marcelle is Sephardi. Marcelle’s parents

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gave Richard and Marcelle a spectacular wedding in Rome at the Great

Synagogue, which was built under the supervision of the Pope. The

synagogue is vast, like a cathedral. They chose Rome as her family had

moved there when they first left Lebanon and it was a central location

for her extended family as well, for those living further afield. The

reception was at the Villa Aldobrandini with all bewigged flunkies and

servants, with elaborate entertaining outside in the gardens. The band

was a well-known Israeli band and everyone enjoyed the party, the

dancing and the speeches. It was a spectacle and people still mention

the occasion to me.

Richard and Marcelle have two children. Jake was born in 2005.

He was at Arnold House School in St John’s Wood before moving to

Wetherby School. He seems to have an entrepreneurial spirit which

he probably inherited from both of his grandfathers. His Lebanese

grandfather was always in business in many different countries. The

Metta family, having originally moved to Italy, eventually settled in

London. Jake, at the age of 14, dealt in exclusive and rare trainers. His

grandfather lent him £2,500 which he repaid in less than a year. He

buys trainers for as much as £400 a pair and then sells them for £600

on eBay. It looks as if he is heading for a high-flying career in business.

Jake had his bar mitzvah at St John’s Wood Synagogue and did well

there. He had a Kiddush at the synagogue, which his grandfather and

I sponsored, including a nice party afterwards for his friends.

Richard and Marcelle’s daughter is named Miel. She is two years

younger than her brother. She went to a traditional English school

for girls, Pembridge Hall. She did well and is also musical. She is now

at Queen’s College and plays the drums in the school band. Richard

played the drums too, while at school, and I recall he drove us crazy

with the noise.

My second son, David, is a year younger than Richard and is very

different from his brother. David has always been very spiritual. Both

boys went to the same schools. David was a top classics scholar at

Clifton. I visited Clifton when David was still a fledgling at the school.

The sports trainer was a man named Gordon Hazell. I said to him,

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“I know you. My father took me to the Albert Hall and I saw you

fight Alf Danahar in the Southern Area Championships many years

ago.” He was amazed that I had seen him fight. It was a fortuitous

encounter as after that, Gordon Hazell looked after David. He was a

very decent man, a devout Christian, and with his guidance, he helped

David to become captain of the school at boxing. Needless to say, the

other houses pitted against the Jewish house added a further element

of excitement to the boxing matches. David laid tefillin every day at

Clifton and because of his influence, another 15 boys joined him in the

ritual. He liked to write articles and, having visited the Bristol Jewish

cemetery, his articles were printed in The Jewish Chronicle. He followed

this up with a visit to the Jewish cemetery in Bath. The articles in

The Jewish Chronicle were both about the ancient tombstones at the

cemetery and their history. Soon afterwards, David began to receive

letters from people all over the world asking him to look for the grave

of their ancestors.

Being a top scholar at Clifton and passing his exams with top

marks, David was offered a place to study at Jesus College, Oxford.

He was only 17 years old and therefore took a year’s sabbatical. He

wanted to go to Israel. I was friendly with a woman called Doreen

Gainsford who ran JIA Appeals in England. She had recently moved

to Israel. I asked if David could stay with her. She was running a

facility for the Ethiopian children at Ashkelon who had been seeking

refuge in Israel and she took David under her wing. Carol and I went

to Ashkelon where David was based, and as we were walking along

the street, a group of Ethiopian children shouted out, “Hello David.”

He clearly was popular and worked happily with them. However, at

weekends he was going up to Jerusalem and it was there that the ultraorthodox

took a special interest in him. He became very involved

with the Haredi. It is difficult to say, but I think he was being drawn

in by their way of life. A small but memorable incident in Ashkelon

was when we bumped into the mayor. He invited David to come over

for Friday night dinner. By this time, David was very tall, nearly 6ft

3in, while the mayor was a short man. I noticed David peer over his

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head to see if the mayor was wearing a kippah, which he was, before

accepting his invitation.

David had been at Jesus College for two terms when he announced

to us that he did not wish to go back to Oxford – he wanted to go

to a yeshiva in Jerusalem. Carol and I were very unhappy. I decided

to find out who was the most influential Jew in Oxford. The man

was the master of Balliol, Zelman Cowen, who was ex-governor-general

of Australasia. I made an appointment for Carol to see him. In a

fourteenth-century house in the centre of Oxford, Carol met him, a

smallish man behind a big desk. Carol explained our dilemma. “I am

very sorry,” he said, “I can’t help you with your son. I have two sons,

both in a yeshiva. I have the same problem as you.”

David went to Jerusalem and was introduced to a girl. She was

originally from Nottingham. David said he wanted to get engaged,

so I suggested we meet the girl. I flew to Jerusalem and took Carol’s

mother. To be honest, I was not impressed. I spoke to a friend in my

synagogue. He knew the girl’s family from Nottingham and told me

that the mother’s family was unstable – ‘mad’ was the actual word he

used. Back in England, we invited the mother to London. We were

nervous, hoping all might be better than expected. Carol spoke to Lady

Jakobovits, the chief rabbi’s wife, who was a friend of hers, and she

agreed to come around for the tea as well. The woman from Nottingham

was indeed unstable and had an argument with Lady Jakobovits about

some Jewish ritual. Lady Jakobovits was not impressed at all and told

Carol to make sure David did not break the plate, a Jewish tradition

practised by the ultra-orthodox. If the plate was broken, the Shidduch

would become irreversible. The wedding invitations were printed and

his fiancée gave them to David to hand out. He must have felt that

something was wrong as he kept hold of the invitations and no one

ever saw them. Then, David’s rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel, spoke to Carol

and told her it was not a good match. In the end, the marriage did not

take place.

A short time later, David had a nervous breakdown. The head of the

yeshiva brought him back to London and I met them at the airport.

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The rabbi was upset as he had left his glasses on the plane. I told him

not to worry and I took them directly to Specsavers to organise a new

pair. The assistant came to take his details. She was a woman of about

65 years of age. When she spoke to the rabbi, I watched as he covered

his eyes so as not to look at her. I thought to myself, What have we let

ourselves in for – this is pure fanaticism. There was no other way to

describe it.

I took David to the hospital on Commercial Road. His mental

health needed professional help. He was admitted and placed in a ward.

Unbeknown to us, a group of young men from Stamford Hill went to

the hospital and discharged David. I contacted them and said if David

was not back in that hospital immediately, I would report them to the

police for kidnapping. So, David went back to the hospital. Eventually,

he was placed with a rebbe in Stamford Hill whom I paid monthly.

The rebbe’s own son had been in a car accident and for many years had

been in a comatose state. When the rebbe moved to Lakewood, New

Jersey in America, David went with him. David has subsequently been

studying at the yeshiva at Lakewood for 30 years.

I thought David would get married, become a rabbi and a teacher

and have a community. None of these things happened. He is still

in Lakewood. Carol and I have supported him for 30-odd years, but

finally decided he had to stand on his own two feet and get a job.

Unfortunately, that was not to happen as the yeshiva supports him

instead and encourages him to study. We once met a group of young

American orthodox women and Carol chatted to them about David.

At first, they were interested to know more about him, that is, until

they asked about his job. When we told them that he only studies at a

yeshiva, they said, “A man who spends his life studying would not be

suitable marriage material.”

We visit David twice a year. Usually, we arrange for a car to collect him

from New Jersey to take him to New York where we see him. I have been

to see him at Lakewood, but it is not a happy experience for me. They

are all radicals. Sometimes, we meet halfway. You could say he appears

happy, but he is bound in a straitjacket by their strict regime. For one of

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our visits, we specifically asked at our synagogue for kosher restaurants

in New York. We chose the one which came most highly recommended

and we walked in with David. There were at least 50 orthodox Jews

all wearing kippots and the hechshers on the walls clearly stated the

establishment was ‘glatt kosher’. Even this was not good enough for our

son. David picked up his phone and spoke to the rebbe at Lakewood

who confirmed the restaurant was acceptable. This young man, who has

a brilliant brain, could not make a simple decision for himself.

Our third child, Louise, followed in the family school tradition and

went to Mrs McCaffrey’s where girls had to curtsy at the school entrance.

I wanted the children to be fluent in other languages, so we then sent

her to the Lycée. Louise was athletic and sporty. At the Lycée, she was

trained by an all-England fencer. Louise was outstanding in sport. One

of my nephews, Lloyd, was at Millfield School and I went down to visit

him. Millfield was a mixed school. There, I saw two 16-year-old girls

with rosy cheeks playing tennis. They were hitting balls harder than

any man I had ever seen. That was what I wanted for my daughter, so

when she was 13, I took her to Roedean School for an interview. They

agreed to accept her, but only if she was able to pass their entrance

exams. I was nervous as Louise was not academic. Determined, I told

them I was not in the country very often, my business keeping me

away. I insisted on paying the school fees there and then. I wanted to

make a guarantee of her place. I paid the first term in £5 notes. I saw

the bursar’s hands shaking; he had never handled so much cash. Three

days before Louise was due to start at Roedean, they phoned up and

said she had not passed their exam and could not go. I said, “But I’ve

already been to John Lewis and all her clothes have been printed with

‘Roedean’ labelled in the collar.” Eventually, they agreed she could take

up her place, but she would have to stay an extra year, which meant she

would be there until she was 19. Louise enjoyed her time at the school

and played hockey for the school and Sussex. She also did very well

county-wise in cricket and netball.

In the summer holidays, when she went on holiday to the camp in

Boston, Louise met a boy from Canada. She was still at Roedean at the

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time. Lo and behold, he left his university in Canada and took a job

at McDonald’s in Brighton to be near her. I went down to see Louise

at the school and stopped in at a famous restaurant, a fish restaurant

called English’s. I ordered a white wine and the head waiter said to me,

“You know, your daughter always has the Chablis.” I realised the pocket

money I was sending her was going on entertaining her boyfriend.

Eventually, Carol went down to Brighton and spoke to them. A lot of

tears followed and he subsequently returned to Canada.

Louise left school at 19. She did not want to go to university, so she

went into Marks & Spencer. They were obviously very impressed with

this girl from Roedean and featured her on the front page of their

magazine. Louise has always been first class at sales. I know, as I let

all the children work in the company shops during their holidays. The

same could not be said of David. One holiday, he was working in one

of the Oxford Street shops. I walked in and saw he was reading a book

under the counter. I asked the manager why he had not stopped him.

His reply was, “He’s your son.” David was dismissed. David also worked

for my solicitors, Lorenz and Jones, in the holidays.

Louise went to Marks & Spencer in Maidstone. She was running

the men’s clothing section. As a sales incentive to the customers, she

used to ask my tailor, Edward Sexton from Savile Row, to change the

buttons on the Marks & Spencer suits to add an extra flair.

Louise was very pretty. She still is, I should add. A lot of boys

chased her. Then, she met Philip Keller, an accountant. As Philip’s

family was Reform, the ceremony was at West End Central Synagogue

and to make it 100% kosher, they also married at the orthodox

Jewish headquarters at Woburn House, Holburn. The reception was

at The Savoy Hotel.

Philip was made financial advisor to the Glaxo Corporation in

South Africa. They moved to Johannesburg and their son, Gabriel,

was born there. Carol and I went to South Africa for the birth.

Philip’s parents are Richard and Susie Keller and the family came from

Manchester. They had a department store there, which was sold to

Debenhams. Susie’s father was Austrian and came over to England and

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settled in Whitehaven, Cumbria. He was an industrialist and became

Baron Schon, sitting in the House of Lords. His maiden speech began,

“I came to England with nothing. I am now sitting in the House of

Lords and that couldn’t happen anywhere else in the world.”

Gabriel likes cricket and I took him to Lords for an England test

match. All the seats were empty in front of us, so I said, “Come on, let’s

move down to a better seat.” He was terrified to move as it was against

the rules. Gabriel is an expert golfer and can hold his own against most

people. He went to Bristol University, gained a first class degree and

now works for a financial company.

Louise’s second child, Lauren, was born in England. The family

had moved back to St John’s Wood and later moved to Primrose Hill.

Lauren went to Nottingham University to study public relations.

Louise’s husband, Philip, became a successful finance director of a

city company and retired at the age of 53. He had always been interested

in music and likes to conduct. He originally studied at Durham

University, so when he retired, he returned to his old university to take

a degree in music.

Louise is now a child psychologist. Not long ago, I was introduced

to someone who had worked with Louise and her exact words were,

“You don’t know how brilliant your daughter is.” That was strange to

hear as she was never academic. “Well, there you are, she is brilliant.”

Louise and Philip have a second home in Majorca – she loves the sun.

They spend a lot of time there.

Our fourth child is Laura. She again curtsied at the McCaffrey’s

school entrance, learnt languages at the French Lycée and then went on

to Roedean. Laura was not happy there, but she acted in the theatrical

society. I saw her in a couple of plays and musicals in Brighton. She

has always been involved with public relations. She was 23 when she

married Simon Aran who came from a Sephardi family. They were

married at Lauderdale Road Synagogue and the wedding reception was

at The Dorchester Hotel.

Laura had her own public relations company at a young age. It was

bought out by Freud, a well-known PR company. She looks after 30

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plus major stars and is a director of the company. She handled Pierce

Brosnan when he was James Bond for 10 years. For 25 years, she has

looked after Daniel Craig – during 15 of those years, he has played

James Bond. She has tremendous responsibilities. She travels with

these actors and actresses all over the world and on many occasions,

I have seen her on television on the red carpet behind these famous

stars. She is highly respected. I do know that prior to Covid-19, when

the previous James Bond film was released, they visited 13 countries

in 14 days by private jet. Although it looks glamorous, it is hard

work, but she accepts all the responsibilities with a smile and is going

from strength to strength.

Laura has two children. The oldest is Isabelle. When Isabelle was

three, she was a bridesmaid in Ireland when Pierce Brosnan, her

godfather, was married. Isabelle has always been interested in animals

and has an incredible wanderlust. She has worked in Australia, New

Zealand, South Africa and Asia. Carol and I were on holiday in Laos

and we met Isabelle there. She was, as always, working with animals.

We went for a Friday night dinner at a Chabad House where there

were 200 young Jewish people from all over the world. She in fact met

two Australian girls there who she had previously met in Australia.

Isabelle came back to England and applied for a job at Battersea Dogs’

Home. She was given the job and she worked there for some time.

Then, she was put on furlough because of Covid-19. After furlough,

she was reinstated, but her wanderlust resurfaced and she is now in

Kenya working with animals again.

She has a younger brother, Jack. He is now at Nottingham

University. Jack is a good footballer and a massive Arsenal supporter.

I once took him to a match at the Arsenal. A friend of mine is a

football agent called Jonathan Barnet. We had seats in Jonathan’s box

with some famous footballers in attendance and Jack could not take

his eyes off them.

Laura was divorced seven years ago. It was not pleasant, but the

children are close to her ex-husband’s parents, Meyer and Jennifer. The

couple moved from St John’s Wood to Israel. Sadly, Jennifer passed

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away, but the children have met with their grandfather in Tel Aviv

where he has an apartment. He sold his flat in Northgate and then

bought an apartment in Park St James where we previously lived.

The children and grandchildren are close. The last occasion when

Jack and Gabriel were together, they went to see the premiere of the

latest Bond movie at the Albert Hall. Laura also had tickets for us.

Carol and I had never been to a premiere before. There were 4,000

people there. We bumped into Jack and Gabriel who were at the other

end of the venue. There was an after-premiere party at Annabel’s

nightclub which they were going to. It was pelting down with rain, so

we took them in our car.

David’s siblings have visited him in New York, though the

relationship is understandably distant. They come from different

worlds. Our other children are proud to be Jewish, but they are not

what I would call synagogue-goers. I tried my best, even sending a rabbi

down to Roedean to teach all the Jewish girls on Sundays. The bill

was met by myself, a property developer called Godfrey Bradman and

Ralph Halpern. However, as with many Jewish families, our main gettogethers

are invariably on a Friday night.

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With the children in Washington

David back from university

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With David at Grand Central Station, New York

Richard’s wedding in Rome

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Richard’s wedding in Rome

With the grandchildren in Majorca

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The grandchildren

Jake’s bar mitzvah

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CHAPTER TEN

Parks Candles

For 16 years, Carol had a shop in St John’s Wood. It was known for

selling unique gifts, fragrances and stylish home furnishings such

as rugs, lamps and scented candles. It was called Parks. On occasion,

when the sun was shining and the shop took a few pounds, she would

invariably shut early, say, “I’ve taken enough today,” and enjoy sitting in

the garden. For the candles, she would buy silver and glass containers

from wholesalers in France. She would then send them to Carberry in

Scotland to be filled with fragranced candle wax. These were individual

hand-filled pieces; she would order 10 to 12 at a time. These candles

quickly became popular, so much so that Thomas Goode and Harrods

made an order for several hundred. This volume of manufacturing was

a new experience for Carol, and at the time I had just finished with my

company, TORQ, so I offered to step in and help.

I found a candle manufacturer in Weston-super-Mare. Carberry was

a long distance away; their costs were high and turnaround was slow.

Unfortunately, Weston-super-Mare proved to be unsatisfactory and, in

fact, they soon after closed their business, so I had to source a new

manufacturer. I found what I was looking for in the old carpet town

of Kidderminster. The production factory needed an initial investment

of £25,000 to buy machinery, wax and fragrance. I asked the husband

of Carol’s partner in the shop if he would like to join me, but he could

not. As Carol had taken the Thomas Goode order under Parks’ name,

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she would have to buy her partner out. I gave them £25,000 and Carol

became the sole owner of the shop and company and had complete

freedom to use the Parks name. I had set up the production in

Kidderminster when, shortly afterwards, I was approached by someone

who could produce candles using soya rather than the paraffin wax we

had been using. Soya wax would make a superior candle with less risk.

Paraffin, a by-product of petrol, is known to release toxic chemicals.

It was, in my opinion, the best way forwards and so I invested more

money. I believed the public would respond to a cleaner candle.

The factory was in a disused building due to be demolished. The

manager was John Simpson and, unbeknown to me, he was stealing

the company’s wax, fragrance and staff to supply other companies,

including Liberty of London. I decided to end my association with John

and dismissed him. I moved to new premises, a factory in Hartlebury

near Kidderminster, and we have been there for the last 15 years. We

use soya wax mixed with a small amount of beeswax to give our candles

a better burn.

The factory machinery has moved on from hand-filling to two

automated five-head fillers and then a 10-head filler. Now, 20 containers

can be filled with wax in no time at all, producing thousands a day. We

also have the equipment to make our own wicks. All this machinery

has been custom made to our exacting requirements. We have people

to pack the goods, quality control the products and run the warehouse.

We have added a new mezzanine floor, lighting and heating. At the

warehouse, due to our increasing internet trading, we have appointed

consultants to develop our ability for speedy deliveries. For example, if

we receive an order from a customer in Derby, we know immediately if

we can deliver the product to her the next day. It takes a sophisticated

system to be able to pick the right product off the shelves when we have

some 170,000 pieces in stock.

Over the years, we have supplied Parks candles to major stores such

as Harrods, John Lewis, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason. We have

appointed distribution agents in France, Italy, Germany, America and

South Korea. In the beginning, as the business grew, I was importing

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the metal containers directly from India, but from a dishonourable

man. I had an order worth £28,000 and he told me I would have to

pay the full amount up front for the bank to release the goods. An

unusual request, but Christmas was approaching and I needed those

containers. I paid the full sum and he immediately disappeared. It was

a loss to the company when it was just beginning to establish itself.

Then, I discovered the manager of the factory had employed eight

members of his own family, each one even worse than the next. They

were all travellers and their thieving of the company’s wax and fragrances

went on for more years than I would like to remember. Regrettably, the

company had bad managers and staff. I had many years of experience

in retail, but now I was in manufacturing. I had to learn many lessons

and I am still learning to this day. After our initial teething problems,

the production company in Kidderminster ran smoothly with 45–60

factory employees and a further 16 staff in London looking after sales,

website design, accounts and administration.

In London, we took a property on George Street, just off Baker

Street. There was a retail unit at street level and we had 16 desks for

the office staff in the basement. George Street does not have footfall

and proved unsuccessful for the retail unit. To be open for six days,

we needed three sales staff and when you added rent, rates and service

charges to the salaries, the figures did not add up. For the last two years,

in light of the Covid situation, the shop has been closed, although it

is open for customers to place internet orders. These days, our office

staff generally work from home, which has proved to be popular. One

member married a chap from Mexico, where she now lives, but she

still works for us running our website. Our accounts lady lives in

Weymouth, works from home and it suits the company as well as her.

The staff seem better off. Instead of travelling for two hours a day – 10

hours a week – to get to the office, they spend their time working at

their own desks. They also save the expense of travel and food. The

company has continuous Zoom meetings these days.

Seven years ago, as I previously said, I had a scan which revealed

a shadow on my lungs. I had to prepare for chemotherapy and

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adiotherapy. My son, Richard, was finding it increasingly difficult to

obtain funding to make his documentary films and I was not going

to be in a situation to give my full attention to the company. It was a

fortuitous time for him to join the company. He has been with me for

six years running the day-to-day business and the company continues

to flourish. He has made it up to date in many ways. Also, where

I tolerated bad members of staff, he removed them.

Having made a recovery from my treatment, I enjoy my current

limited involvement with the business. I am in the office from between

10 and 10.30am and finish at about 2pm. I attend meetings that are

usually held via Zoom; I am more of an observer these days rather than

a contributor. My business knowledge is from the last 60 years, but

everything has changed so much. I sometimes wonder if my past years

of experience are meaningless in this day and age. Sometimes, I will

meet with clients and they respond to my enthusiasm for our product.

Occasionally, I visit the factory with Richard and speak to staff.

The Parks brand is well-known in many countries. In France, we

supply to an online company who have over 70 million names on

their account. In Germany, we supply another powerful internet seller.

We receive substantial orders and are committed to deliver the goods

quickly as we have a five-day international delivery guarantee to meet

the demands of these large companies. That is our challenge and we

are constantly meeting it. England, South Korea and Japan are strong

markets for us too. We make our candles for other famous company

brands as well. Confidentiality agreements keep their names from

being mentioned or put down in print. They wouldn’t want the public

to know their product is subcontracted out. We have made candles for

over 2,000 companies worldwide.

Early on, I was supplying Fortnum & Mason with our candles when

the buyer moved to Highgrove to work for the Prince of Wales. I would

visit Clarence House, his London residence, to take the order and

once, a lady in waiting joined the meeting. She said, “Sidney, HRH has

a beautiful garden with pergolas. Could you design a container with a

silver lid that looks like a pergola?”

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I had already taken the order in detail, so I said, “That would be no

problem, but there will be a delay.”

“Oh, f*** him, let’s go with the original order.”

I am not totally sure if I heard her reply correctly, but I think I did.

We also produce our own labels at Parks and employ a design team.

Believe it or not, the head of that department’s name is James Bond.

10 Downing Street has become a client as well as the FA, the British

Museum, the Royal Opera House, the Ritz Hotel in Paris and many

others. We produce candles for international jewellery companies,

interior designers and florists who are incredibly particular about the

fragrances used. We are the only candle company that produces our

own fragrances, employing technicians at the factory to ensure quality

control never wavers. Rose is the most expensive fragrance to produce,

with lavender and other florals following closely behind. Fragrance can

cost £200 per kilogram. We used to have musk as a scent, but it is no

longer allowed as musk is made from the belly of a deer.

Our candles sell from £30 to £300 retail. With 10 other major

candle manufacturers in the country, competition is fierce and it is

important we stay ahead. We are always looking for new ideas and new

products, just as long as it is all 100% natural.

We first started marketing at trade shows in Birmingham and

London, to get the company name known and to take orders. Then

later, under the umbrella of the British Chamber of Commerce, we

visited trade shows in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Los

Angeles, Japan and Chicago. We appointed agents to sell for us in

America, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan, South Korea

and many more countries. Before Covid, our most important show

was in Paris at the Maison&Objet where buyers visit from all over

the world to seek products. I also travelled to China to attend the

trade shows, but not as an exhibitor. In China, I was the buyer, on

the lookout for boxes, glasses, machinery and anything to strengthen

our product and production.

For two years, we supplied British Airways on their long-haul

flights to sell our candles on board. I picked up the contract at the

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Tax-Free World Association exhibition in Cannes. The trade shows

can be exhausting, but they are a necessity if you want your business

to be global. We were on QVC for a time and did quite well, always

selling out, until they moved our time slot to 12pm, a time with a lower

viewership. The goods were on sale or return, and of 1,000 delivered,

800 came back. When I examined the returned goods, the special

coded tickets, a requirement of QVC, damaged our boxes when they

were removed. I refused to take the candles back. Regrettably, that was

the last of our business with them.

I have visited Tokyo three times on business with Parks Candles.

The first time was when I had just finished with Green & Symons.

I was wearing a beige gaberdine suit made by the Savile Row tailor,

Edward Sexton. I had not worn the suit for about five years. I put my

hand in the inside pocket and there was £1,000 wrapped in an elastic

band, obviously from my jewellery days. At the trade show, there was a

British silversmith exhibiting and he had an attractive tea set on offer.

It looked very modern. I said, “That’s a modern design.” He told me no,

it was based on a Victorian design. He opened a book and showed me

that it was indeed a copy. “How much are you asking for it? The trade

price is £5,000.” I told him I had £1,000 and said if it was any good to

him to let me know. Needless to say, he sent me on my way. At the end

of the show, he asked if I was still interested in the tea set. I was, but

£1,000 was my limit. “OK, I’ll take it,” he said. I had already spotted

underneath that the tea set was marked Asprey, increasing its value. A

good find and, in the end, you could say it cost me nothing as I was

not expecting to find the money in my pocket. As a jeweller, you always

have cash to hand. You are buying and selling to trade constantly. My

father, being a bookmaker, always had to go to the races with Scottish

£100 notes in his pocket – I remember that. He would have as much as

£10,000 on him. That was 70 years ago, so probably in today’s money

it was more like £250,000.

My second time in Japan for a trade show was during Passover.

I enquired to see if there were any synagogues in Tokyo and found a

Reform Synagogue. I phoned them and they were having a seder night,

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so Carol and I went. There were maybe 50 people at the table and

a few Japanese women, wearing Stars of David. They began reading

from the book, the Haggadah, and they were more fluent than any

person there. Most of them were married to American servicemen and

embassy officials who were in attendance.

Hong Kong at Passover was another interesting experience. I was

there with Carol at a trade show. There were three synagogues all

built on top of each other; one Reform, one Orthodox and the other

Chabad. We went to a general seder in the communal hall. There

were 200 people there from all over the world. When it came to

the Ma Nishtana (the four questions), the rabbi asked, “Anyone from

Poland?” Then it went round and Germany, France and England

followed. Each person read the Ma Nishtana in their native language.

Finally, he asked if there was anyone from China. A man put up his

hand and he proceeded with the Ma Nishtana in Mandarin. It was a

memorable experience.

Another time, I was in Singapore for Pesach. There are two

synagogues in incredible condition as they have a lot of money which

they are not allowed to move out of the country. The money came from

the Sassoons and the opium trade, when they were dealing with China

over 100 years ago. We were exhibiting at a fair and a woman asked if

she could leave her bag on our stand. Carol said yes and then said to

me, “You know she’s Jewish?”

“How do you know?” I asked.

She replied, “There were matzos in the bag.”

Later, the lady invited us to her home for the second night of seder.

Her last name was Shamoon. Her husband was known as the Harvey

Goldsmith of Singapore, a theatre and pop concert producer.

On our third trip to Tokyo, we were able to explore Japan. We went

up to Kyoto on the bullet train. Unfortunately, I left my passport in

the hotel in Kyoto. We contacted the hotel and they were very efficient.

“Go to the train station and we’ll put it on the bullet train. The guard

will give it to you.” Subsequently, the train pulled up and the guard

handed me my passport. Kyoto was very spiritual and most impressive.

105

It was a completely different culture to anything I had come across

before. The cleanliness of everything was amazing – the taxi drivers

even wore gloves!

It has been difficult for so many during the pandemic of Covid

including at Parks Candles. The smaller shops we used to distribute

to have mostly gone, but we have moved towards the internet and

survived. We received government support – 30 staff were on the

furlough scheme and our business rates and rent were much reduced.

We are in a good shape now and should go from strength to strength

in the years to come.

In the office, 1990

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Carol at the Dubai Duty Free Show

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kiddush Club

When my youngest daughter, Laura, was due to marry, The

Dorchester was chosen for the wedding reception. A close

pal of mine, Tony Page, asked if he could do the catering. I said yes

with one proviso: “I need you to supply the food for the Kiddush Club

which I run at St John’s Wood Synagogue.” He said yes. I paused for a

moment and added, “For ever and ever.” His face went pale, but for the

last 25 years, Tony has been supplying the food for us.

A friend of mine, Hymie Labovitch, used to run the club. Back then,

when the haftarah was being read, 10–12 of us would congregate in the

cloakroom in the men’s toilets and Hymie would supply a bottle of whisky

and a few herrings. I felt this could be improved upon. I persuaded

the board of management at the synagogue to let us use one of the

classrooms. I introduced more whiskies and vodka and, with Tony’s

food, the Kiddush Club has expanded considerably to some 50 members.

It is popular and is also open to members’ wives. All members pay a

fee and there is usually around £8,000 a year surplus. We give this to

the synagogue for various requirements. We also make purchases for the

synagogue. We have recently bought 330 used chairs in perfect condition

from Claridge’s Hotel which were surplus to their needs – when we

counted the delivery, we had received 377. A bonus! The synagogue even

sold the existing 230 chairs for £1,500 – they were also originally bought

by the Kiddush Club, but after years of wear they were in bad condition.

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It is fair to say that not every member of St John’s Wood has been

happy with the club. This is the reason why, some 20 years ago, I joined

the board of management at the synagogue to counter any opposition.

Now, I am the oldest member of the board and even though I feel it

is the right time for me to resign, the board will not let me. Dayan

Binstock’s son, Rabbi Yossi, comes to the club to say kiddush and gives

a small drosha. The Kiddush Club is accepted by the younger members

of the synagogue and our financial contributions to the upkeep of the

building are appreciated by all.

We were members of Annabel’s Club for a long time, as well as

Mark’s Club and George’s Restaurant, all owned by Mark Birley. In the

1960s, membership was £100; today it is somewhat higher at £2,500.

With the members’ clubs, whatever you paid when you first joined

remained your annual fee for life. For the gentlemen’s clubs in the West

End, they have bottles of wine that they have laid down for 50 years

and not sold. They have kept the price the same as when they first

bought them.

Mark Birley, the owner of Annabel’s, Mark’s and George, also had a

gym behind Claridge’s that I used to go to regularly. Birley was friends

with Anthony Speelman, the art dealer who bought our first house in

Bryanston Mews. I was in the gym one day and Birley was telling me

how he and Anthony had been on holiday to Cuba. “Cuba has the

most beautiful women in the world,” he said, and I responded, “I hope

you didn’t catch anything.” It was said as a joke. The next day, when

I arrived at the gym, the receptionist told me I was banned. “Mr Birley

did not like what you said yesterday.” Carol phoned to demand a

written apology from Mark Birley. It never came, but eventually I was

reinstated. I have never returned to that gym.

Amongst our many parties over the years, I tried to organise

something special for Carol’s 40th birthday. It was a party in the

private members’ room at Annabel’s nightclub with just 22 of us. The

cutlery used in the room is solid silver. After the meal, as we moved

from the private dining room into the main club, Carol was stopped

by the maître d’.

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“It seems there’s a spoon missing.”

“Ah,” Carol said, “I think I know who that might be.”

One of her cousins was an avid collector. A quick word to her later

and, with many apologies, the spoon was soon returned.

New Sefer Torah at the synagogue

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CHAPTER TWELVE

The Golden Round

All my life, I have been blessed with good health. It was a shock

when, aged 79, I received my lung cancer diagnosis. The treatment

was not pleasant. I lost every hair on my head, but I recovered. My hair

has grown back, stronger and darker than before. My breathing can

sometimes be difficult, but that is the only lasting side effect. I smoked

cigarettes, up to 80 a day, until I was 35. Often engrossed in my work,

cigarettes would be left burning in the ashtray and I probably set fire

to my office on occasion. Then, a television programme on lung cancer

frightened me and I quit. Not long after, I took up cigars. The trips

every six weeks to the dentist put a stop to that addiction. Now I am

smoke-free and cancer-free. Now, I would lay my odds back to even.

I played tennis up to the age of 78 and considering I started at the

age of eight, I had a good few years of enjoying the game. I played at

Junior Wimbledon and did well, although to really excel, I would have

needed at least six hours of training a day. My later tennis years were in

Regent’s Park, opposite from where we live. Mr Thom ran the courts.

He always made me laugh. We would be charged £1,000 per year, but

his invoices were adapted, just a little. Jewish holidays: £400 deduction.

Rain: £300 deduction. Unavoidable absences or holidays abroad: £100

deduction. My last invoice was a final total of £100. Unfortunately, the

courts have been taken over by the council and they were looking to

develop the site for five-a-side.

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A few years ago, I was approached by the board of management at

the synagogue concerning my second bar mitzvah. I was coming up to

83 years of age. I had a year to prepare, and Yossi Binstock trained me

on my parsha from the Sefer Torah. Of course, a kiddush had to follow

and, unlike the simple family gathering we had when I was 13, this

time it was extravagant. I asked Tony Page how much the catering was

going to cost me. “Don’t worry,” he said.

“Tony,” I said, “when you say don’t worry, then I start to worry!”

We had a good turnout for my second bar mitzvah, perhaps because

they all knew Tony was doing the catering! Needless to say, Tony was

expensive but worth every penny. I am reminded of the bar mitzvah

of David, my son. It was interesting. As you would expect, he did

extremely well during his preparation and it all went very well. At the

end, I can still see his face as he looked up to his mother to see if he

had her approval.

Retirement will never be for me. I like my part-time involvement

with Parks Candles and enjoy discussing the business with Richard,

though we might look at it from different perspectives.

Carol and I are fortunate enough to have been together for nearly

58 years, through ups and downs which we have shouldered together,

coming out stronger. We take enormous pleasure in seeing how our

children and now grandchildren make their independent, individual

choices in their own lives, forging ahead in a very different world to

when Carol and I were young.

We are truly blessed to have priceless memories. With G-d’s help,

may there be many more.

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